Waterspout near Key West damages boats, scatters debris in the Keys
A waterspout spun up near Key West and left minor boat damage, scattered debris at Sunset Marina and on Stock Island after stormy weather swept the Keys.
Boaters and marina operators near Key West dealt with a rough marine hazard Monday evening after a large waterspout formed off the island and was tied to minor damage, scattered debris and damage to boats and decks in the area. Video posted by residents and weather outlets showed the spout spinning near the Florida Keys after a stormy day.
The National Weather Service office in Key West had already flagged hazardous marine conditions in the Keys coastal waters. Its 4:55 p.m. EDT marine forecast for Monday, July 27, 2026, cited troughing just off the Eastern Seaboard and a frontal boundary draped across northern Florida and Georgia. The office’s local weather page showed a last map update at 7:52:40 p.m. EDT the same day.
Several video posts circulated as the waterspout moved through the area. Fox Weather shared footage from the Florida Keys, including a view from Seven Mile Bridge of a large waterspout spinning over the ocean. Weather Nation said the National Weather Service office in Key West believed the waterspout moved into Sunset Marina, where it damaged a few boats and scattered debris. Matt Devitt Weather also said the spout caused minor damage to boats and threw debris around on Stock Island.
The sequence added to a busy stretch of waterspout activity in the lower Keys. FishMonster Key West posted video of a waterspout in Key West Harbor on July 24 at 6:50 p.m., just days before Monday’s event, underscoring how quickly the same weather pattern can produce more than one spin-up in the same stretch of water.
The National Weather Service in Key West maintains a local research page titled Waterspouts & the Florida Keys, reflecting how common the hazard can be for Monroe County’s coastal waters. Its Sugarloaf Waterspout page also documents a waterspout-tornado on Sept. 19, 1999, northwest of Sugarloaf Key.
For boaters, the practical takeaway was immediate: waterspouts in the Keys can turn a stormy afternoon into a debris field around marinas, docks and open water within minutes, especially when hazardous marine conditions are already in place.
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