Local Community Advertising
If you have any kind of view of Okanagan Lake today, you’ve probably admired the massive "cloud" that’s shrouded the water.
We certainly admired the phenomenon from the 16th floor of Landmark 6, so we reached out to NowMedia meteorologist Wesla English for an explanation.
As it turns out, it's technically not even classified as a cloud.
She explained to us that what we’re seeing is steam fog and it happens when cold air moves across relatively warm water, causing the water to evaporate into the air right above.
“The air is then cooled and because cold air cannot hold moisture as well as warm air, condensation happens and fog is formed,” English explained, adding the following example.
“On a cold day, when you breathe out of your mouth, you can see your breath. When you do the same thing on a warm day, you cannot see your breath.”
So there you have it, explained by the Okanagan’s weather expert herself!
If you snapped any cool pictures of the steam fog today, please share them with us in the Facebook comments of this story, on Instagram by tagging #KelownaNow or by emailing news@kelownanow.com.
Local Community Advertising