A walker looked on in astonishment as he caught a waterspout on video after the phenomenon formed over the North Sea.

Peterhead resident Scotty Sangster caught footage of the tornado-like spectacle as he stood near Aberdeen beach on Tuesday.

The intense rotating vortexes typically form over stretches of water in tropical and sub-tropical regions.

STV weather presenter Sean Batty said: "On Tuesday, the north of Scotland had a real mix of weather, with rain, sleet, snow, hail, thunder, a waterspout off the Aberdeen coast and blowing dust reported in Lossiemouth.

"The reason for the very changeable conditions is down to a very cold Arctic air flow, making the air unstable, which allows large clouds called cumulonimbus to form.

"Cumulonimbus clouds bring thunder, hail and are also responsible for tornadoes and, in this case, a waterspout.

"Waterspouts are closely related to other phenomena such as tornadoes and whirlwinds, although compared to tornadoes they are generally much less powerful.

"This waterspout looks fairly weak and it's difficult to say exactly what the wind speed would be inside, although looking at it, it's likely to be around 50mph.

"That being said, it would still have been unpleasant had any ships passed under it. Many have been surprised by snow showers over the last few days, but this is not uncommon for April, with on average eight days of falling snow over the Northern Isles to two days in the central lowlands.

"It looks like we could see some disruptive snowfall on the higher roads during Thursday night and into Friday morning across central and eastern parts of the country.

"The colder Arctic air will be replaced by milder Atlantic air by Sunday, although the wind and rain will return too."