This morning, Kootenay Lake was a devils’ playground. It was spellbinding to watch, but also tooth chattering and bone chilling. Within easy sight, dozens upon dozens of devils frolicked.
The experience was bone chilling as the temperature was about -12C and the wind was brisk. What with open water on the Lake, it was an ideal time to watch for steam devils; when they came, they did not disappoint. Alas, after a time, the raw conditions drove me indoors.
Steam devils are fairly easy to distinguish from normal steam fog. Convective wisps of steam fog are chaotic and will usually evaporate by the time they have risen a metre or so. Sometimes though, a wisp will concentrate the wind shear in the atmosphere’s surface layer and begin to spin. This protects the droplets inside from evaporating in the surrounding air. The spinning column can retain its shape to heights of tens of meters. This is the steam devil.
While steam devils appeared all over the Lake, they only stood out dramatically in a narrow region on the edge of a mountain’s shadow. Here, steam devils were in the sunlight, but nicely contrasted with the dark backdrop.
As with dust devils and tornadoes, the hollow structure that results from spinning was sometimes evident.
Now and then one devil would wrap around another. Now that is playful.
All in all, a grand—if chilling—experience.
Beautiful!
Amazing pictures, Alistair!