No wonder the Chesapeake region has thunderstorms and thunderstorms several afternoons a week. After all, it’s the season. But several witnesses have only discovered waterspouts in different parts of the bay since last weekend, a reminder that boaters should remain vigilant when storms are predicted.
On Tuesday morning, Sailor Tim Flaherty of Solomons, Maryland, snapped photos of waterspouts off Cove Point. In a Facebook post, he wrote, “I’ve seen at least three, and several tornadoes may have been obscured by the rain on the east coast… The waterspouts appeared near Barren Island and moved northeast.
Obvious waterspouts showed up Tuesday morning, visible from Cove Point. Photo: Tim Flaherty
Over the weekend, sailboat racer and photographer Mark Hergan found out the hard way that summer storms can cause unexpected damage. On his Instagram page, Deadrise Marine Photography, Hergan shared a photo of his sailboat tipping dangerously from its elevator on Bear Creek in front of the Patapsco River.
He writes: “I was on my way to Oxford last night to photograph the Oxford Regatta that weekend when I received a message that my 4,000 pound Soverel 27 Morning Star was no longer on their elevator. It was tilted over 40 degrees and had a stake that drilled a hole in its side. “
Hergan’s neighbor three houses down, who drew his attention to the alarming problem, told him that “the sky turned black quickly around 6:00 p.m. and two gargoyles put up next to my boat and quickly spun out the stream before it disappeared. He said it was the worst weather he had ever seen on the creek. “
Hergan was lucky the boat stayed on the lift at all. As he describes it: “[the boat] was tilted over 40 degrees and had a pile drilling a hole in its side. Her rig was caught on the masthead of the sailboat on the other side of the dock, and her 1,800-pound keel was just floating in mid-air. All of their jacks were in their normal positions, but only two held the boat up and began to bend and twist under the load. “
For the past week, special marine warnings and flash flood warnings with three inches of localized rainfall have been almost the norm in the National Weather Service Baltimore-Washington area. Maryland Natural Resources Police even devoted a Facebook post to reminding boaters in Maryland to “keep an eye on the sky.”
“Be sure to check the weather forecast before leaving shore and watch out for signs of bad weather,” writes the Navy Police. In addition to wind and rain, the option of waterspouts should be a serious consideration.
Chesapeake Bay Magazine recently reported on the bay’s increasingly well-documented waterspouts, which are just more common than before because people capture them with cell phone cameras.
These weather events on the water should be taken seriously, say experts.
Zach Daniel Richmond, Richmond’s chief meteorologist for Channel 6, told CBM, “We often talk about tornadic activity associated with severe thunderstorms,” Daniel explains. “These super cells can produce waterspouts or form tornadoes over land, which then move across the water without losing much of their power.”
The National Weather Service provides the following advice to any boater facing a waterspout:
- If you spot a waterspout, seek a safe haven immediately.
- Avoid the waterspout by driving at right angles to its apparent direction of movement.
- If a collision is likely, remove the sails, secure loose items, close hatches and, if possible, go below deck.
- Under no circumstances should a boater attempt to navigate through a waterspout.
–Meg Walburn Viviano