Waterspout sighting prompts rare tornado warning for Seattle (VIDEO)

Some Seattle residents were on high alert earlier this afternoon after the U.S. National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the Puget Sound region.

According to the Komo News, the warning was triggered after multiple witnesses saw and reported a waterspout off Anderson Island, near the suburb of Tacoma, at noon.

Tornadoes occur during atmospheric instability, forming as a rotating column of air that extends between a cloud, usually a cumulonimbus. When over water, they are called a waterspout.

There were no reports of injuries and damage and this tornado did not make landfall.

The tornado warning was called off within the same hour it was issued. It is the first tornado warning for the Metro Seattle region in nearly 45 years, Komo News reports.

For the Metro Vancouver, the last confirmed tornado sighting was in 1962. An unconfirmed event also happened in 1988 on the eastern fringes of the region.

Funnel clouds (tornadoes that do not reach the ground) have been more common occurrences. There were two reported sightings in recent years, including the event near Vancouver International Airport in January 2012 and another over Burnaby in November 2013.

Feature Image: Art Jenkins