The skies of Sai Kung were briefly graced with a waterspout (think tornado, but over water) earlier today while the Hong Kong Observatory’s Thunderstorm Warning was in place.
At around 4:55pm, Hongkongers spotted the dramatic funnel-shaped column of water rotating over the surface of the sea.
A witness told Apple Daily she was at Pak Sha Wan Pier when the sky suddenly changed colour. “One of the clouds began spinning rapidly, like during a Typhoon 3, and formed a tail [the waterspout]. There was thunder and lightning… the entire process took around 15 minutes.”
A spokesperson for the HKO told Apple Daily that the phenomenon came from a funnel cloud, which are sighted mostly during the wet ‘n’ wild (at least, temperature-wise) summer months in Hong Kong. According to the HKO, waterspouts and tornadoes are seen in Hong Kong once every one to two years.
Last July, a waterspout was seen over Kau Yi Chau, an uninhabited island west of Victoria Harbour, during a period of heavy rainfall.
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