NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – Beachgoers at New Smyrna Beach on Saturday had quite the surprise when a landspout tornado spun up sand and other items.
Jimmy Stowe shared video with News 6 that showed the landspout tornado whip around sand.
“It was crazy. I had seen the pop tent, you know the 10x10 pop tent blow up in the air and then it went across the beach,” he said.
Stowe said he was out at the beach for a few hours when the sky started to get darker and it started to thunder.
“I’ve seen a lot of bad storms living here in Florida but nothing like that. It was cool,” he said.
A landspout tornado does not originate from an organized storm and the spinning motion originates near the ground and is stretched upward. During severe supercell tornadoes, the rotation begins in the storm and descends towards the ground.
Landspout tornadoes tend to be much weaker and shorter lived than a typical tornado, with winds rarely topping 100 mph.
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Landspouts and fair-weather waterspouts originate and function very similarly, with the only difference being one is on water and the other is on land.
Another video shows what looks like the landspout transitioning into a waterspout as it moved from the beach to the open ocean.
Strong storms were moving through the New Smyrna Beach area at the time.
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