Waterspout or Tornado Over Water? The NWS Weighs In...

After seeing the dramatic footage Sunday of what was said to be a waterspout making its way onto land to become a tornado in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, there are questions as to whether the term 'waterspout' should have been used. https://www.facebook.com/WeatherNation/videos/10156446853744874/ This video shows the tornadic storm making its way from the water onto land in the Florida Panhandle. https://www.facebook.com/WeatherNation/videos/10156446673939874/ Many angles of the storm were recorded, but WeatherNation talked to the National Weather Service (NWS) Office in Mobile about using the term waterspout to describe the storm. "This was not a waterspout," NWS Meteorologist Jeff Medlin said. "A lot of people get caught up in confusing this with your day in and day out summertime waterspout which have much weaker wind speeds." https://www.facebook.com/WeatherNation/videos/10156448572504874/   "This was a definite tornado over water," Medlin said. "This is something that we have really worked hard to train the people who are out in boats in our area. They know the difference and we will occasionally use that verbiage 'tornado over water' to elicit the response." Medlin went on to say that they have confirmed winds with this storm up to 105 miles per hour. And while the damage survey team is still out, there has been preliminary EF-1 damage found. https://twitter.com/NWSMobile/status/988485186206748672 More information on the storm is expected to be released Monday evening. Listen to the full interview with Jeff Medlin here: https://youtu.be/2_m0Lm-_zN0 For WeatherNation - Meteorologist Heather Brinkmann