Vicki Swinnerton and her daughter Amy ran from their Bethanga home about 5pm as they saw the mini tornado tearing across the water. 

“I haven’t seen anything like that before,” Ms Swinnerton said.

Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Stuart Coombes said while he was on duty on Friday night, he was tracking storms over the Border. 

“Structurally they were the type of storms that do produce rotations and we were wondering if one would create a tornado over the water because conditions were favourable for that to develop,” he said.

A waterspout is caused from rapidly rotating air, which draws up a spray from the water surface. 

Mr Coombes said they often only lasted a few minutes and were usually spotted off the NSW coast. 

“As long as they stay over the water and no boats are around it’s fine,” he said.

“But they effectively become a tornado once they move over land.”