By AccuWeather meteorologist
Published Nov. 7, 2021 12:07 PM EST | Updated Nov. 9, 2021 12:10 PM EST
Some travelers hoping to fly out of Canada's Vancouver International Airport on Saturday were witnesses to a very unusual sight just outside the grounds of the major travel hub. AccuWeather meteorologists say a waterspout spun to life just outside the busy airport late Saturday afternoon.
Environment Canada, the Canadian weather service, issued a rare tornado watch Saturday afternoon as atmospheric conditions were ripe for potentially hazardous development.
The large, twisting waterspout developed right around 5:30 p.m., local time, and left some onlookers stunned at its size and proximity to land.
A waterspout is similar in appearance and structure to a tornado, but forms over a body of water instead of over land.
Saturday's waterspout formed over the Georgia Strait just west of Vancouver International Airport, Canada's second-busiest airport. Environment Canada confirmed the waterspout ultimately tracked to the north toward West Vancouver and the mouth of the Howe Sound.
A waterspout churns in the distance while lightning strikes near Vancouver International Airport on Saturday, November 6, 2021. (Image credit: Sean David via Storyful)
A spokesperson for the airport confirmed that "out of an abundance of caution" aircraft in the vicinity were directed into a holding pattern for a time Saturday afternoon, according to reporting by CTV News Vancouver.
"All aircraft landed safely and airport operations were not affected," the spokesperson added.
Travelers were left gawking at the impressive twister as it slowly moved away from the airport. As of Sunday, no injuries were confirmed as a result of the twister.
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Waterspouts occur infrequently across the greater Vancouver area but under the right atmospheric conditions they can spin up from time to time, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski.
"Cold, unstable air above the surface and a prevalent spin in the atmosphere combined to create conditions conducive for a waterspout to spin to life on Saturday," Pydynowski explained.
Waterspouts and tornadoes are climatologically rare across Canada, especially when compared to the very active severe weather of the United States. According to the Northern Tornadoes Project, a research group founded in part by Ontario's Western University, Canada has had a total of 90 confirmed tornadoes and waterspouts in 2021.
Compare that to the U.S. where during just the month of October there were 146 preliminary reports of tornadoes, according to data from the Storm Prediction Center (SPC). As of Nov. 1, the preliminary count for tornadoes in 2021 in the U.S. stood at 1,149.
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