are water spouts as dangerous as tornadoes?
Water spouts are usually just tornadoes over water, that have drawn water from the surface up into their vortex. Not all water spouts are “tornadic”, which means not all water spouts are just tornadoes over water. Other atmospheric phenomena can form water spouts. It does not take much force to draw water into a water spout. It takes more force to pull sand, shingles, and other debris into a tornado vortex over land. That is why water spouts are not considered as dangerous as tornadoes. There can be some pretty powerful tornadoes over water, which can be more powerful that some tornadoes over land, so water spouts should not be considered safe to travel near or into, by any means. Water spouts are not normally as powerful as tornadoes, but both should be treated as equally dangerous. I hope this helps.
