A water spout touched down on Paradise Island at 4:10pm today

This picture was taken outside the BahamasLocal.com office at 4:10pm 18th July 2011.

Shortly after 4 p.m today, the team at Bahamas Local watched as a waterspout formed on the eastern end of the Paradise Island.  Behind the waterspout was a wall of rain along with some thunder and lightning.  Being experienced is the outer bands of tropical storm Bret which is projected to move away from The Bahamas.

What is a Water Spout?

A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex (usually appearing as a funnel-shaped cloud) that occurs over a body of water and is connected to a cumuliform cloud. In the common form, it is a non-supercell tornado over water. While it is often weaker than most of its land counterparts, stronger versions spawned by mesocyclones do occur. Waterspouts do not suck up water; the water seen in the main funnel cloud is actually water droplets formed by condensation.