What many might think was a tornado off of the coast of Atlantic City on Tuesday, was actually a waterspout.
Chris Filosa ran outside of the Rutgers Marine Field Station in Little Egg Harbor Township to record the phenomenon.
Although a waterspout is called a 'tornado over water,' their are a few differences between the two weather phenomenons.
A waterspout is classified into two categories, fair-weather and tornadic.
Fair-weather waterspouts, the more-common of the two, are weak twisters that occur in coastal, tropical or sub-tropical bodies of water.
The second type is called a 'tornadic' waterspout. Essentially, a 'tornadic' waterspout is a tornado over water. Tornadoes form from severe thunderstorms which means these waterspouts are stronger and more dangerous. Generally, this type of waterspout occurs when a land tornado ventures off into a body of water.
The waterspout that appeared in between Atlantic County's Brigantine and Ocean County's Long Beach Island formed around 4:37 p.m. and it lasted about five minutes, according to philly.com.
