FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Word about it spread quickly along the Eastern Shore, as if it were a jubilee, but this quirk of nature was nothing of the sort. Much like some jubilees, however, it was over nearly as quickly as it began.

A rather large waterspout rapidly formed close to the Fairhope Pier on Tuesday, just as some area residents were in the middle of their early morning fitness walk.

“The bay was just as slick as a piece of glass; it had an unusual look to it, and I thought to myself, ‘oh, it looks like a jubilee; jubilee time,’” said Millie Stephens, a retiree who enjoys walking on the pier many mornings.

Stephens had walked out on the pier past the Yardarm Restaurant when she noticed a black cloud moving southeast toward her. She hurriedly walked back to her car through a light sprinkle to beat heavier rain, and looked up just as she was cranking the engine.

“It started out about the size of a washtub. And it started to swirl, almost like a crown with spikes of water. It got larger and moving, and larger and moving,” Stephens said. “It was fascinating, and I really got caught up in it. I thought it looked like a waterspout, but I’d never seen one as long as I’ve lived here.”

Waterspouts are not an uncommon sight in Mobile Bay and in the nearby Gulf of Mexico, but few seem to pop up adjacent to an area where so many have cameras and smartphones in hand, ready to digitally record the action.

Stephens said this waterspout grew as it moved away from shore, resembling a cloud at times. Other eyewitnesses reported it eventually moving back toward shore before dissipating near the American Legion Post beach. She noted that she didn’t stick around long enough to witness the outcome, something officials highly recommend.

Jeff Garmon, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Mobile said although waterspouts are the weaker cousins of tornadoes, they should not be underestimated.

“Some waterspouts can do damage like an EF-1 tornado when they move ashore,” Garmon said. “Typically they will go a short distance before they fall apart.”

He said the formation process of a waterspout differs from that of a tornado. The stronger cyclones are born from deep rotation in a storm cell, while waterspouts require a smooth, flat surface with only a fair amount of instability just above the surface and a minimal amount of rotation in what appear to be the seemingly most unthreatening of clouds.

A circulation of onshore and offshore flow can set up the conditions needed for a waterspout. Garmon said the air flowing into the cloud will pull the wind shear up.

“They are fairly common on the Gulf Coast during the summer months,” he said. “Most people on the beach will see one, and fisherman are fairly accustomed to them.”

Garmon said most waterspouts are small, but pointed out the one on the Eastern Shore earlier this week was rather large, prompting a tornado warned to be issued my NWS forecasters. He added, “Those larger ones can actually be life-threatening. They can flip the boat, they can hurt people. They can move onshore and hurt people.”

Although not as common, waterspouts can form during the cool and transition months and typically be larger than the summer variety, sometimes crossing back onto land.

Friction on land created by trees or buildings quickly break up waterspouts, he pointed out.

Kelly Godsey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Fla. was manning the severe weather desk when the waterspout formed. Ebersole’s office was pinch-hitting for NWS Mobile, which had already scheduled the down time before lightning struck the Bates Field office a day or two prior.

He said the weather office was using radar combined with surface observation to keep an eye on Mobile Bay.

“We were watching this storm on radar moving on Mobile Bay, and they (at the Mobile Downtown Airport Brookley were able to see (the waterspout). We issued a special marine warning, followed by the tornado warning,” Godsey said.

Garmon said boaters who spot a waterspout should always move away from it at right angles.

“A lot of folks who commonly see them think they’re benign, but they can be fairly strong, producing winds over 100 miles per hour. You don’t want to move your boat into that.”

Garmon said waterspouts are normally difficult to spot on radar because their profiles are small and rarely seen on the screen. But when one is picked up, residents should treat it as if it were a full-scale tornado and take appropriate steps, he said.