‘Huge and scary’ waterspout spotted over Bream Bay in Northland during intense thunderstorm

Andrea Hawcridge photographed this waterspout over Bream Bay from her decking near Waipu.

A Waipū resident managed to capture on camera a “huge waterspout” that moved slowly over Bream Bay in Northland during an intense thunderstorm today.

Andrea Hawcridge, a media specialist at NZME, spotted the columnar vortex from the decking of her house, northwest of Waipū township, about 12.30pm and grabbed a photo before it dissipated.

Hawcridge said the weather phenomenon moved over the water slowly during a heavy downpour which was accompanied by thunder and lightning.

“There was thunder overhead, and I saw a flash of lightning where the waterspout was.

“It looked really scary.

“It was huge, I was like... I hope that doesn’t come onto land.”

Hawcridge said though it was raining in the Waipū township, it wasn’t raining at her place in the hills, and it wasn’t windy at all.

After she took the photo, it simply disappeared.

“It was pointier and closer to the water before I took the photo. After I took the photo it dissipated quickly, thank goodness.”

MetService Meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said waterspouts are usually seen as “extensions from thunderstorm activity”.

They occur with strong winds that have a sharp change in direction, which causes a rotation that can lead to a waterspout.

“That sharp change in direction and wind speed between the surface and upper levels of the atmosphere sets up a rotation. If it’s intense enough, that’s when we see a waterspout.”

Makgabutlane said though it may not have been windy in Waipū, it was likely windy closer to the centre of the storm.

“Normally with thunderstorms, they have strong winds going into the storm, that’s where the wind updraughts.”

Waterspouts could come onto land “depending on the movement of the storm”, Makgabutlane said, but it depends.

“Normally they tend to be pretty harmless but since they are in the family of tornadoes that is a destructive phenomenon.

“If they do move onto land we could see possible structural damage.”

Severe thunderstorms have also been detected near Te Puke and Mōtītī Island in the Bay of Plenty this long weekend and are moving towards Tauranga, MetService says.

In Northland, heavy showers and thunderstorms with hail could be expected in the west on Monday, with more showers on Tuesday, heavy at times with possible thunderstorms and hail in the east.