Watch: Tornado traps couple in car on Florida beach
Afternoon thunderstorms quickly whipped up this apparent tornado on a Florida beach, taking beachgoers by surprise.
Watch: Florida couple inside a tornado
A couple on New Smyrna Beach, Florida was shocked when an apparent tornado surrounded them then moved offshore as a waterspout.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – The weather turned quickly for a couple enjoying Saturday at the beach. An apparent tornado spun up and swallowed the car they sheltered in.
Wild video shows sand, wind, ocean spray and debris, including boogie boards circling the car parked on New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
"Oh my god," the woman in the car repeatedly says. "This is not cool."
The tornado pushed off the beach and transitioned to a waterspout.
THIS IS A LIFE CYCLE OF A TORNADO
Couple captures tornado transitioning to waterspout
A couple on New Smyrna Beach, Florida sheltered in their car as a tornado spun up on the beach then passed over them. They continued the video as the twister moved offshore where meteorologists call it a waterspout.
FOX 35 Meteorologist Ian Cassette spoke to the NWS about the phenomenon which they called a "boundary-induced tornadic waterspout." The NWS states that "Tornadic waterspouts are simply tornadoes that form over water or move from land to water."
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, LANDSPOUT AND DUST DEVIL?
File: Four waterspouts spin off the Spanish island of Majorca on Sept. 16, 2022.
(Anton Adanero Guinea / FOX Weather)
The boundary can be the meeting of winds blowing in separate directions like a sea breeze just developing. The leading edge of a sea breeze is also a boundary between cooler and warmer air.
The NWS issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook from nearby Daytona Beach to the Keys. Forecasters expect more frequent cloud to ground lightning and winds gusting to 50 mph.
"An isolated, marginally severe thunderstorm, with wind gusts up to 60 mph, cannot be ruled out along the coast where stronger boundary interactions are expected late this afternoon and evening," the statement reads.