Waterspouts aren't a weather topic that we frequently talk about here in northern Illinois.
However, this is typically the time of the year (late-summer/early-autumn) where they become very common across the Great Lakes.
Why? Well, waterspout formation all begins with water temperatures. It's at this point in the year where the lakes are at their warmest levels. The combination of that along with the insertion of a frigidly cold airmass aloft spells a conducive environment for lake effect showers and storms. Add some rotation and you get the potential for waterspouts.
Believe it or not, waterspouts fall into two categories, fair weather and tornadic. Waterspouts that are tornadic may begin as a tornado and then move onto a body of water. They also can form as severe storms roam over a body of water. Fair weather waterspouts on the other hand usually form along a flat base of a line of maturing cumulus clouds and are generally not associated with thunderstorms. While tornadic waterspouts develop downward from a thunderstorm's base, fair weather waterspouts develop on the surface and work its way up towards the base.
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