Warm Winter Waterspouts, Confused Birds, Lack of Flu

Jan 27, 2012; 2:33 PM ET

It’s been warmer (or at least less snowy) than normal over much of the United States this Winter. That may have led to rare winter waterspouts forming over bodies of water. The video below from Keloland.com claims to show waterspouts over the Missouri River in South Dakota January 17.

At first, I was skeptical because they were only still photos, and could have been virga, a much more common winter occurrence. But, this photo obtained by the National Weather Service in Aberdeen, SD is a lot more convincing. If that’s not a waterspout at (1), it is at (2).

They say: “Below are some very rare lake effect Waterspouts. Chris Westcott took these pictures in the vicinity of Lower Brule. The waterspouts are formed from the instability that is created when the air that is associated with the relatively warm open waters of the Missouri River interact with the extremely cold air located just above the surface. Chris said that at one time there were 6 of them.”

Then I read this article, which had even more convincing photos, from Okanagan Lake near Kelowna in southern British Columbia, Canada (which has been less warmer and snowier).

Also due to the warm and snowless weather, the Great Lakes are not freezing much, which is unusual by now for Lake Erie (causing ice fishing huts to collapse), birds are not flying south in Chicago (some blame Climate Change), winter games are being cancelled in Iowa and New York City, and plants are trying to bloom in Tennessee.

Even the flu could be held back (influenza transmits more rapidly when people are hiding inside from the cold). While Google flu search results are inconclusive, the CDC data shows that only 4.9% of 3,500 tests were positive for influenza today, vs. 31% of 10,550 last year! Winter isn’t over yet, of course, but no season of the last 3 has started this slowly.