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This is the second time a waterspout has been seen in Vung Tau. The first was reported in May in the sea of Long Hai.

In August, a waterspout was also witnessed in the Hai Phong northern port city and the southern province of Kien Giang.

A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex that occurs over a body of water. They are connected to a towering cumuliform cloud or a cumulonimbus cloud. In the common form, it is a non-supercell tornado over water.

Waterspouts have a five-part life cycle: formation of a dark spot on the water surface, spiral pattern on the water surface, formation of a spray ring, development of the visible condensation funnel, and ultimately decay.

Ms. Le Thi Xuan Lan, from the Hydro-meteorological Observatory of the Southern Region, said that in Vietnam, this phenomenon usually occurs at the beginning and during the rainy season and more in the south than the north, particularly in the sea of Rach Gia – Kien Giang – Tho Chu. However, waterspouts in Vietnam are not too strong.