Tornado or water spout? Picture: Higgins Storm Chasers

No damage has been reported.

Higgins Storm Chasing posted footage on Facebook of what it claimed was a tornado near the airport which is located on the coast.

Witness Crystal Crosthwaite, 23, told news.com.au she first thought it was a fire “until it started to bend right in the sky”. She watched the scene from a distance at Pelican Park, “looking towards Brisbane Airport”, around 2pm.

“That’s when I got my phone out and started filming,” she said.

“It just kept twisting sideways and upwards until a wall of rain blocked the view.

“It was amazing to watch, I’m glad my 11 month old was still asleep in the back seat so I could watch.”

Earlier, the weather bureau issued a severe weather warning for Queensland.

The Bureau of Meteorology said it suspected the “tornado” was actually a landspout.

The difference between a landspout and a tornado is that tornadoes only occurred during a supercell storm.

Forecaster Jim Richardson said the landspout appeared to occur during a non supercell afternoon storm over the airport. Mr Richardson said such weather occurrences weren’t “unheard of” when there was instability and low moisture levels in the air.

Shortly after the sighting, the storm weakened and moved out to sea but not before leaving 3000 homes are without power.

News.com.au understand many witnesses sent footage to the weather bureau, claiming they had seen a tornado.

Others have posted to Twitter calling it a “dust devil” or “whirlwind”.

Earlier, BoM spokesman Michael David told news.com.au it could take “days” to determine the nature of the sightings.

“It’s going to be hard to confirm,” he said.

“We can’t confirm it as a tornado based on photos or videos.”

Brisbane Airport’s observatory earlier recorded a “dust devil” but Mr David said it was unclear if it was related to the same phenomenon appearing in other witness photos.

Mr David said reports of a tornado were yet to be confirmed.

“We’re not sure if we’re looking at the same thing,” he said.

“They could be two separate events.

“We’re also seeing pictures of possible waterspouts in the bay.

“We’d need to see photos of damage on the ground to determine what it was.”

Tornadoes have been known to form in parts of Australia, including Brisbane.

“It definitely can happen,” Mr David said.

But Australia is not suitable for fostering much stronger tornadoes like those that often develop and cause widespread disasters in the United States of America.

“Those tornadoes in the states form because of ideal conditions,” Mr David said.

“They’ve got the ranges and Rocky Mountains with moist air coming in from the south and cool dry air from the north that interchanges.

“We just don’t have those conditions or that sort of landscape in Australia.

“Our tornadoes can get fairly strong here but not that strong.”

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