Marlice Gulacsik of Quinault captured quite a sight from her Lake Quinault cabin on film Aug. 11: a water spout traveling along the lake.

She said the photo was taken from her cabin “right next door,” just west of Lake Quinault Lodge, at 8:31 p.m.

“It touched down at the water in front of July Creek Beach and headed north,” said Gulacsik.

Logan Johnson, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in Seattle, said around that time radar data showed “one very small weak shower near the south end of Lake Quinault, but nothing else.” He did note the shower “did briefly get stronger as it exited over the northeast portion of the lake around 8:30 p.m. Nothing indicates rotation in the shower; however, with a shower that intensified for a brief moment, it couldn’t be completely ruled out.”

Gulacsik noted the waterspout occurred in the “same general area” where more than 100 old-growth trees were flattened in the early morning hours of Jan. 27. Daily World reader Nan Rutledge and her husband, Steve, who lived nearby the July Creek picnic area, sent photos of the aftermath. The true cause of that anomaly was never fully explained as radar at the time showed no instability in the region. However, a paper published online with the American Meteorological Society in June described it as “a microscale wind event driven by a mountain-wave rotor.”

July Creek is on the north shore of Lake Quinault, accessible via the North Shore Road just northeast of Amanda Park.