Weather changes quickly in Southwest Florida

People stopped to admire and film it when severe weather swept in over the weekend. And that put them in harm’s way.

This serves as a warning that weather can take a quick turn in Southwest Florida. The risk of severe weather on Saturday morning was no secret. The WINK News weather team warned us all.

However, the good news is that no one was hurt when a waterspout came ashore and turned into a tornado on Fort Myers Beach.

First, people on Fort Myers Beach watched the waterspout in wonder. But, as the video shows, people were running for cover a moment later.

Many people were surprised. Among them was Amy Beth, who was visiting from Rhode Island.

“We were at the cottage, which is the downstairs of the Shuckers, and a water spout came on. We were all taking pictures of it. It was exciting, and then it started to rain huge raindrops, so we sort of ran into the cottage, and two seconds later it came right on the shore, and we saw it take out a couple of people and some belongings,” she said.

The chance for severe weather was in the forecast. But, despite that, thousands of people were on the beach Saturday morning. Again, the video shows how so many of them didn’t react until the waterspout came ashore.

“We couldn’t look away. Like, we could have a ducked down, but it was just coming, and I couldn’t stop looking at it,” Any Beth said.

Kailey Carls is visiting from Minnesota and says she knows what serve weather is like. “It’s a little scary, but we get straight-line winds all the time, so it’s kind of normal. I mean, I don’t wanna get sucked up and thrown out into the ocean, but you know,” Carls said.

WIN News was out at Fort Myers Beach on Monday, and the weather was beautiful. But, as we saw Saturday, that can change instantly, so be weather aware.