The moment a mysterious stream of water thundered across the North Atlantic Ocean has been caught on camera.
The gigantic waterspout appeared eerily close to the Portuguese island of Madeira on 17 November.
Luz Vieira captured a clip of the weather phenomenon, which is a tornado that forms over water.
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Very narrow but colossal in length, it travelled with great speed across the surface of the water, as if connected to the clouds above.
Waves crashed as the spout stirred the water beneath it.
And in the clip, it begins to get dangerously close to land.
But as the spout makes its way over some rocks, it dissipates and is sucked back inwards towards the clouds.
A waterspout is described as a rotating column of air and water mist that forms over a body of water.
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Waterspouts can be dangerous and cause significant damage and injuries if they move onto land.
In this case, it had fizzled out before reaching that point.
This type of weather event is generally most common in the tropics, and climate change is presumed to increase the frequency of such occurrences.
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The video has prompted thousands of reactions after being shared online.
Many viewers marvelled at the rare moment being captured, as reported by What’s The Jam.
Edite wrote: “The power of nature.”
Hori added: “Simply spectacular.”
“Nature is fantastic, but I’m glad it was at sea because if it were on land it would do a lot of damage,” said Brigada.
Milton commented: “Beautiful video.”
“Impressive. You can see that it dissipates as soon as it touches the ground,” Victor penned.
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