At least two water spouts were confirmed on Myrtle Beach shores Sunday morning, the National Weather Service said.
Videos of the funnels of wind forming over the ocean and blowing ashore circulated on social media on Sunday. The water spouts could be seen tossing some beach chairs and umbrellas about before dissipating near the dunes.
Sometimes, when water spouts like these move onto land, they can be categorized as tornadoes. But the ones encountered by Myrtle Beach beachgoers over the weekend were too weak to fit that category, explained weather service meteorologist Jordan Baker.
“It just tossed a couple of umbrellas. It barely moved onto the dunes,” Baker said. He added that the water spouts that the weather service reviewed on video likely only whipped up winds around 40 miles per hour —not very strong by tornado standards…