Tourist photographs huge waterspout off Italian coast
This amazing picture shows a swirling waterspout hitting the coast of an Italian town.
The incredible snap shows the stormy skies over Genoa, Italy, as the water tornado sweeps over the sea.
See also: Video shows huge waterspouts off the coast of China
See also: Four waterspouts seen off the coast of Greece
The dark, blustery clouds filled the sky as the twister pummelled the ocean, with dramatic flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder.
The pictures were caught on camera by tourist Evgeny Drokov, from Russia, who was on holiday with his family.
Evgeny, 41, said: "I've never seen anything like this before!
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, we were about two kilometres away from the tornado on our balcony.
"It was our last morning of a family vacation in Genoa before driving back home.
"We had been packing the bags, and then the show began!
"We could see it so well because the apartment house is located on the heel at a distance - there wasn't much rain at the time, it was pure luck."
Waterspouts are commonly defined as tornadoes over water, caused by a combination of cold and warm temperatures converging over the area, along with a line of storms.
They have the same characteristics as a land tornado and are associated with severe thunderstorms, often accompanied by high winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning.
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