Water sprout in Norway! (photos)

Sunday 20th July, was a big day for Arendal. It was the Norwegian Grand Prix offshore boat race and everyone went to the sea to watch the whole thing and so did I.
The sky was cloudy with Cirrus and some Cumulus congestus were seen over mainland...

... whereas in Northern Denmark the sky was cloudless, so Cumulonimbus were developing much easier. Some appeared over the sea, too.



As soon as the Cirrus clouds disappeared and the sun warmed the ground, some small Cumulus were formed plus some suspicious clouds towards the sea.

It seemed to be a Cumulonimbus getting closer. I could also see rain curtains under the cloud.

That Cumulonimbus was about to die, something I noticed from the ambolt...
…
...but behind those Alto-clouds some new Cumulus tops were growing.


So, it was a cloud system coming closer, but remained above the sea.


And suddenly I saw something going downward back of the Tromøy island. It was a funnel cloud over the sea, which means a water sprout!





The whole phenomenon lasted some minutes and a slight rotation can also be seen on this time lapse video I have recorded.

At the same location, I saw that it began to rain heavily and clouds with low basis were being formed.

Later in the evening, it started raining lightly for some minutes in Arendal, too.


After, reading what the Norwegian meteorological institute said on http://yr.no another water sprout appeared that day in South Norway. Water sprouts are not uncommon in Europe, but this summer there were pretty many funnel clouds that have been observed in Norway.
http://www.yr.no/ver-nytt/1.6147045
http://met.no/?module=Articles;action=Article.publicShow;ID=1027
http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/ostfold/1.6147059