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Chicago Weather: Rain Shaft Forms Over Lake Michigan During Sunday Storms

CHICAGO (CBS) -- It might have looked like a water spout, but a weather phenomenon that appeared in the middle of Lake Michigan on Sunday was actually called a rain shaft.

Due to a trick of the sunlight, the visible column of rain falling from the base of a cloud looked like a water spout.

However, the water temperature in Lake Michigan currently is too cold for water spouts to form.

Precipitation shafts can form from rain, snow, or hail, and are sometimes mistaken for funnel clouds, especially at a distance, but when viewed closer are not visibly rotating.

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