Waterspout in Cornwall seen off Trebarwith Strand beach near Tintagel

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The waterspout next to Gull Rock off the Trebarwith Strand beachImage source, Steve Rumming
Image caption,

Steve Rumming saw the waterspout next to Gull Rock off the Trebarwith Strand beach on Thursday morning

A rare waterspout was seen off the coast near Tintagel on Thursday morning.

Steve Rumming saw the phenomenon off Trebarwith Strand beach around 09:40 BST while he was walking his dog along the cliff.

He said: "We've never seen this before. It was great to see it although I did move out of its way pretty sharpish."

Waterspouts are tornados over water, a BBC meteorologist explained.

Mr Rumming said: "It had just poured down and dried up when this was spotted at the end.

"It was fairly calm then all of a sudden it got blustery when it came towards the cliffs from the sea."

Meteorologist and BBC weather forecaster Dan Holley said: "Essentially a waterspout is just a tornado but over water.

"Both begin life as a funnel cloud - a rotating column of air underneath a shower or thunderstorm - which, once it's extended to the ground becomes a tornado if it's on land, or named a waterspout if over water."

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