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PHOTOS: ‘Waterspout’ above Okanagan Lake as extreme cold hits Penticton

Temperatures with the windchill reaching marks of below -30 C

With temperatures feeling as cold as -35 C in the South Okanagan, some have taken the chance to capture unique wintertime images.

Okanagan Lake was the site of most of those on Friday, Jan. 12. Social media user Courtney Robinson by Munson Mountain photographed a “winter waterspout,” a phenomenon that can last for up to 10 minutes and forms above lakes during periods of cool, unsettled weather, according to Environment Canada.

Remember the days when lakes in Penticton would freeze?

The Western News’ Brennan Phillips captured frozen sections of Okanagan Lake, in some sections as far as 30 feet out from shore.

Phillips’ photos on Friday also include a look at Penticton seagulls bracing against the -25 C chill.

And then there’s what could be described, in the simplest of terms, as “icy mountains” on Okanagan Lake.

Such wintertime images come after an “arctic blast” swept through B.C.’s Interior on Thursday, Jan. 11.

Temperatures in Penticton this morning dipped as low as -35 C, with the wind chill.

Daytime marks are expected to reach lows of -25 C, before overnight temperatures into Saturday return to the neighbourhood of -30 C when factoring in the windchill.

Environment Canada is warning about the risk of frostbite.



Logan Lockhart

About the Author: Logan Lockhart

I joined Black Press Media in 2021 after graduating from a pair of Toronto post-secondary institutions and working as a sports reporter for several different outlets.
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