Florida is a top spot for waterspouts

A waterspout picked up a "bounce house" in South Florida on Monday, injuring three children. South Florida, and especially the Keys, are prone to these spinning storms.

The general definition of a waterspout is "any tornado over a body of water," according to the American Meteorological Society's Glossary of Meteorology.

"Such events consist of an intense columnar vortex (usually containing a funnel cloud) that occurs over a body of water" and is connected to a cloud, the glossary notes.

Though most are weak, some have been reported to spin as high as 190 mph.

If you're looking for waterspouts, head for the Florida Keys, which "are the greatest, natural vortex lab in the world," according to NOAA meteorologist and waterspout expert Joseph Golden. "Waterspouts probably occur more frequently in the Florida Keys than anywhere in the world."

Waters around the Keys, especially from Marathon past Key West on westward to the Dry Tortugas, probably see 400 or 500 waterspouts a year, he said. Since they are so common, most go unreported unless they cause damage.

In the Keys, waterspouts are most likely to form between 4 and 7 p.m. They can also form from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. A few waterspouts form around sunrise.

After the Florida Keys, the next most active U.S. waterspout area is the southeast Florida coast from around Stuart south to Homestead. Tampa Bay has the greatest number of damaging waterspouts, probably because the shores of the Bay are so built up.

Places around the Gulf of Mexico along with the Atlantic Coast northward to Chesapeake Bay are also likely to see waterspouts.

In fact, Golden speculates that "a significant fraction of the so-called Bermuda Triangle incidents are from waterspouts."

Waterspouts have been reported on the West Coast from Tatoosh Island, Wash., south to San Diego, but they tend to be weak and short lived. Waterspouts also skip across the Great Lakes and Utah's Great Salt Lake from time to time.