A waterspout was spotted forming over Matakana Island by a Welcome Bay Woman this afternoon.

Liz Addison saw the waterspout, a marine tornado, form over Matakana Island from her home near Osprey Drive in Welcome Bay.

'We actually watched it form just before I had to pick my kids up from school and that was 2pm, I got to kindy and it was about 2.15pm and I showed one of the teachers,” she says.

'I don't know how many people would have had an elevated enough view to spot it,” says Liz.

'If you were looking on a map, and you drew a line between Karewa Island and Minden lookout, somewhere along there where it hits Matakana is where I think it formed.”

'It started off with multiple updrafts,” says Liz.

'It looked kind of like smoke but it was going sidewards to where the spout forms coming down.”

'I think there was about 4 or 5 that were visible and then it started to come down, and I actually told my husband 5 minutes before it started, I won't be surprised if we get water spouts from this.”

Watch a video of the waterspout forming below:

Matakana Island Water Spout from Sun Live on Vimeo.

Do you have photos of the waterspout? Send them to [email protected]