A large waterspout has been caught on camera off the coast of Auckland on Wednesday morning.
Newshub was sent photos by a member of the public taken of the waterspout off the coast of Ōrewa in north Tāmaki Makaurau.
Phillip Duncan from WeatherWatch told Newshub Auckland had some fog patches on Wednesday morning which could've helped generate the waterspout.
"We had fog patches around this morning which may have been caught up in this - making it look more impressive than it is. It's a little hard to tell if it's entirely wind generated or a mix of wind with fog/cloud," he said.
The mild conditions that Auckland experienced overnight and the calm Wednesday morning also could've played a part in generating the waterspout.
Duncan said it's possible the warm sea conditions at sunrise allowed for some clouds to spin.
"I'm guessing if it is a waterspout it was a very weak and localised one. Normally they form later in the day when the heat gives them more energy to spin and grow. So one at breakfast time is a little strange," he explained.
He added Auckland is going to experience a fair amount of heat and humidity on Wednesday, which could lead to some big clouds - indicating there is some instability.
MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris told Newshub Auckland experienced some small but relatively intense showers off the coast on Wednesday morning.
"These likely had strong enough updrafts to create the condensation funnel pictured," he said.
"With the northerly wind flow there might have been a little wind eddy off the Islands to the north (Kawau Island for example) which could have been concentrated by the updrafts which may have created the spinning waterspout."
Ferris said the high humidity sitting across the north of New Zealand also increased the chance of a waterspout.
"Much easier to create a waterspout when the air is very close to condensation already!"
