A family have captured an image of a waterspout off the coast of Northumberland.
Simon Hinkins and his family spotted the impressive weather phenomenon on Saturday evening while on holiday at the Haven resort in Berwick. The waterspout, which is a whirling column of air and water mist, was seen to last around 10 minutes before disappearing.
Simon, who works for the environment agency, is holidaying at the caravan resort with his wife Sally, 48, and their two boys, Thomas, 10, and Sam, 7. As soon as spotting the waterspout, Simon ran for his phone and managed to capture two photographs.
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Simon, 45, from Leeds, said: "We're currently at the Haven site in Berwick and saw the waterspout at around 5.40pm. It looks like it was a couple of kilometres off the coast, near to Holy Island.
"My wife, Sally, noticed is at first and then the kids and I ran out [of the caravan]. As soon as I saw it, I thought it looked like a waterspout, but I've never actually seen one in person."
After capturing two pictures, Simon then emailed the International Centre for Waterspout Research, who confirmed it to be a waterspout and added it to their world sightings map. Simon added: "It lasted for about 10 minutes before disappearing.
"I also shared the pictures into a Facebook group I'm a member of and one man said he saw the same waterspout off the coast of Wooler. The kids were very impressed with it, they were amazed!"
According to the International Centre for Waterspout Research, an organisation comprised of meteorologists, researchers, storm chasers, and others from around the world who are interested in the field, waterspouts occur when both waterspout potential and low-level convergence (i.e. fronts, troughs, land and sea breezes, etc.) are present at the same time.
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