WATERSPOUT, the name applied to the funnel-shaped cloud of the tornado (q.v.) when it occurs at sea. The funnel point seems to descend slowly from the lower side of the heavy nimbus clouds. Beneath this point the sea appears agitated and a cloud of spray forms, into which the funnel point dips, and the whole has the appearance of a water column which (by eye esti mation) has been given as 20 to 3o ft. in diameter and 25o to 300
ft. high; the bulk of the liquid in the column consists of rain water. The top usually travels more quickly than the base. The phenomenon seldom lasts as long as 3o minutes.