A huge waterspout – a tornado on water – swept across Lake Constance. Many people watched the spectacle from the shore. The ships were not in distress.
Shortly after 1 p.m. A huge waterspout occurred over Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen on Wednesday. It was clearly visible from the shore. It has since disbanded. Many people watched the spectacle from the shore.
Spectators were impressed by the natural spectacle. It was really impressive to see it like this now. Many people ran out of restaurants and shops along the waterfront to watch the tornado.
Photo gallery
Water drainage over Lake Constance
wind speed about 100 kilometers per hour
The ships were probably not in distress during the spectacle on the lake. The water police claim that they were not informed of any emergency situations. According to the ship’s captain, the catamaran sailing between Friedrichshafen and Konstanz was also not damaged.
A waterspout reaches an average wind speed of about 100 kilometers per hour. Waterspouts are not that dangerous for large ships, a spokesman for the German Weather Service said about an earlier tornado sighting. Small boats and swimmers should stay away from waterspouts.
Markus Beyer from the German Weather Service told SWR that there is definitely a possibility that these tornadoes could reach land. But that wasn’t the case with Wednesday’s tornado.
The crew of the catamaran saw a tornado over Lake Constance
The catamaran “Constanza” was traveling from Constance to Friedrichshafen. The ship’s captain, Johannes Böckle, and helmsman Ian Cadgen were able to observe the spectacle from a safe distance. A bright event for experienced sailors too. “We were surprised at first and immediately took pictures of the tornado,” Böckle told SWR at the time. He had seen many different tornadoes, but none this close or this size.
Rare phenomenon: tornado on Lake Constance
The German Meteorological Service distinguishes between two types of tornadoes. Some of them are associated with rotating thunderstorm cells, others can also arise from rain clouds, says Markus Beyer from the German weather service SWR. On Wednesday, a tornado formed from a thunderstorm cell on Lake Constance.
With the right ingredients, it’s entirely possible that we could see waterspouts in July.
Markus Bayer, German Meteorological Service
Statistically, according to the German Meteorological Service, tornadoes on Lake Constance occur mainly in September. This usually happens two to three times a year. Significantly colder air at altitude meets warm air over Lake Constance. “From a physical point of view it is very difficult,” Roland Roth of the Southern Meteorological Observatory explained when the tornado last hit Lake Constance in mid-June. But waterspouts are short-lived, often stopping after just a few minutes.
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Read more about the Lake Constance tornado
