Elijah Caroon of Waterlily captured a brief video Tuesday morning of a waterspout trying to form over the Currituck Sound and North Landing River between Churches Island and Knotts Island.
According to the National Weather Service, the formation of waterspouts can become favorable when water temperatures are warm, the air is cold and moist, and wind speeds are relatively light.
Those conditions were in place today thanks to a slow-moving cold front that has dropped our daytime highs to the upper 60s to low 70s through Wednesday.
They are common sight both on the sounds and the ocean along the Outer Banks, especially when there are active thunderstorms in the area.
In most cases, waterspouts which make landfall are much weaker than tornadoes, produce little or no damage, and dissipate quickly.
But there area rare cases when stronger waterspouts may produce significant damage when making landfall.
