[imagesource: YouTube / News24]

Cofimvaba is a small Eastern Cape village which, according to Wikipedia (I know, taken with a pinch of salt), is “probably named after the nearby stream which, after rains, froths turbulently and resembles milk”.

Last Wednesday, residents were sent into a panic when a rare weather occurrence was spotted in the village.

You’re about to see a non-supercell tornado over water, known as a waterspout, although that wasn’t the immediate reaction from those present on the ground.

News24 reports:

Videos showing a breath-taking whirling column of air and water mist circulating over Ncorha dam at Covimvaba’s Nququ Village went viral on social media.

In one video, villagers can be heard screaming, claiming it was magic or a signal for the end of the world.

Villager Sibusiso Zonke speculated on Facebook saying: “This could be the resurrection of the dead or signs of the return of Jesus. It is clear it will all begin here in Nququ.”

Here’s one of the clips:

That may not look too dramatic, but this video was also widely circulated:

Kwenzeka nton ecofimvaba🙆 pic.twitter.com/jae8WuI7Ak

— ufaku ofakayo ungathi uyfakile kanti uykade eboyen (@Sbulele_cbue) February 14, 2022

It’s a good thing these residents haven’t seen a firenado. Those things are truly terrifying.

SA Weather Service meteorologist Lelo Kleinbooi, based in the Gqeberha office, came to the party and explained what they witnessed:

“A waterspout is defined by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) as follows: It is normally a relatively small, weak rotating column of air over open water below specific types of cumulus clouds.”

She added that if this later moved onto land, unlike the waterspout in question, it would be termed a landspout.

Kleinbooi said waterspouts “usually develop or form below certain types of cumulus clouds (it was a cumulonimbus cloud in the case of Cofimvaba), where winds blowing from different directions meet”.

There’s your meteorological lesson for the day.

Takes me back to my schooldays and learning the different cloud types. I’m definitely team cirrostratus.

[source:news24]