By Libya Herald staff. Tripoli, 20 January 2015: Tripoli residents were wowed by the spectacular appearance of a waterspout in the waters off Tajoura today. Dramatic photos and videos of the tall, funnel-shaped cloud appeared all over social media. Some onlookers estimated the vortex was two to three hundred metres high.   Many were calling it a "tornado", but it was actually a waterspout, a not entirely uncommon Mediterranean phenomenon.  A waterspout can have the same meteorological causes as tornadoes but, though they are clearly dangerous for vessels caught in their path, they tend to be weaker than a tornado travelling on land.  The funnel is primarily intensely circulating air, not water.
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