Does a tornado over land usually have any more/less power than a waterspout?
Tornadoes over land are usually stronger (sometimes much stronger) than waterspouts, although a tornado moving from land to water doesn’t necessarily lose its strength. This difference in strength is related to the fact that tornadoes and waterspouts are formed in different ways. Tornadoes are produced by intense, rotating thunderstorms, and this storm-scale wind circulation becomes concentrated into a narrow funnel. Waterspouts are the result of smaller-scale wind circulations associated with warm, moist air near the surface, and the smaller circulation means that less energy is available to power a waterspout than a tornado.
