Some North Okanagan residents were wide-eyed in awe as they looked out over Okanagan Lake Friday, Feb. 12.
What appeared to be a tornado formed over the lake, near Fintry Friday morning.
鈥淲hile I was eating breakfast I saw it,鈥� Shannon Chubb said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure how it was formed but it travelled for awhile actually.鈥�
Chubb saw the long funnel from the living room window of her Okanagan Centre home, looking across the lake.
She wasn鈥檛 the only one to see or capture a photo of the 鈥榣ake tornado.鈥�
鈥淚t was so cool! Myself and the car in front of me had to pull over for it,鈥� Tiffany Dorion said.
The weather phenomenon was also observed by Joanne Croom, who caught two on camera. But according to Croom, it is not a tornado, but evaporation fog on the lake.
Meteorologist Jaclyn Whittal with the Weather Network says they are in fact steam devils.
鈥淭hey happen over the Great Lakes when we get some of the coldest air of the season almost every year,鈥� Whittal said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e getting a very cold Arctic outbreak right now and it鈥檚 all to do with the difference in water temperature in the air above,鈥� said Whittal, noting that the devils appear over the Great Lakes during cold spells too.
鈥淭his triggers convection鈥team can form right above the water (as you can see in the picture) rising air from the warm lake water can also create some wind shear and that steam can be drawn into a vortex. This vortex displays this magnificent phenomenon the steam devil.鈥�
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