A Spout

A meteorologist of the U. S. Weather Bureau happened to be looking out of the window of his office building in lower Manhattan. His view was across the harbor towards Governor's Island.

Suddenly he saw, close to Governor's Island, a tapering cloud coming down to a point within some 700 ft. of the water. Up from the water rose a column of spray. It was perhaps 100 ft. in diameter and SO ft. high. The spout travelled rapidly northward for about a mile in the course of five minutes and then disappeared. Fortunately, no incoming liners or plying ferry boats were in its path. It whisked a few pieces of lumber from a passing barge but otherwise no damage was done. It was the first waterspout ever observed in New York Harbor, and the good burghers of the city were inclined to view it with alarm.

As a matter of fact, waterspouts are seldom dangerous. They are most frequently seen from the northern coast of Cuba to the 40th parallel, and from the Atlantic Coast to the Bermudas. As many as three large spouts have been observed at once; once six were observed in half an hour and 30 in the course of a day.