Lake Superior is a continuous source of surprises, so Arnold “Barney” Ross, whose lakeshore cabin is near Little Marais, Minnesota, wasn’t shocked to see a mid-August storm cloud spawn a series of waterspouts a few years back. 

But he was impressed enough to shoot several rolls of film of the phenomenon, which he says numbered up to seven spouts at one time that merged into one giant spout and then split again into several. Eric Iversen, whose summer cottage is nearby, was fishing with his daughter near Silver Bay at the time. “The storm and waterspouts were well out on the lake,” Eric says, “but we took shelter in Silver Bay anyway. They seemed a lot closer than was the case, and we just don’t take unnecessary chances on Lake Superior.”