Waterspout off Matagorda

Anybody else see the waterspout out by Matagorda last Friday?


When I first saw it, I was out on the end of the jetty, without a storm-cellar in sight. I thought we were about to be Dorothy'd to Oz. I was picking out which crack between jetty blocks I was going to cower in.

But nobody else seemed to be panicking, and I was fighting a pretty powerful ladyfish at the time, so I just kept fishing.

Then the visible part of the sky-snake collapsed, but the bottom part kept barreling down at us. We moved all the gear off the top of the jetty to the leeward side just in case, but it missed us, passing between the jetty and the breakwater. It had about the intensity of a dust-devil, whipping up a whirlwind of sand when it hit land, and then blowing right over three bay boats in the channel. There were people fishing on the jetty who were right in the path who didn't even look up.

I wish I took more video, but the bite was pretty hot right about then.

That’s awesome.

The intensity of water spouts varies greatly. I have seen some like dust devils and others that were like tornados. Great pictures.

That is cool

Neat picture.