UNUSUAL SIGHT

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 12022, 27 December 1924, Page 4

UNUSUAL SIGHT

TWO WATER-SPOUTS SEEN. IN VICINITY OF COOK STRAIT. A most unusual sight was witnessed in Wellington yesterday. About three o’clock in the afternoon a large water-spout was seen travelling across the southern portion of the city. It appeared to he over Newtown Park when first observed, but was probably out to sea. It moved in the direction of Pencarrow Head, where it wae lost to view. At five o’clock a similar black column was seen in the vicinity of Island Bay. It travelled south across the water and then colapsed, the upper portion falling like a heavy rain Bhower. 'CAUSE OF PHENOMENA. Water-spouts are simply tornadoes or cyelines of small dimensions, and occur over bodies of water. They are common in the tropics, where the sea is warm and calm, but they occasionally occur during electrical disturbances and within the region of the large depression as was in evidence yesterday afternoon. When a funnel cloud comes in contact with the surface of the water it is greatly agitated, and the water is observed to rise eight or 10 feet, through the atmospheric pressure in the centre diminishing. The Bpray is carried much higher. Water-spouts have at times crossed vessels, and it has then been found that the water is fresh, thus proving that they are the result of condensation and have not been carried up from the sea, as the outward eject would lead one to suppose.