Some North Okanagan residents had wide eyes in awe as they gazed at Lake Okanagan on Friday, February 12th.
A tornado formed over the lake near Fintry on Friday morning.
“While I was having breakfast I saw it,” said Shannon Chubb. “I’m not sure how it came about, but it actually traveled for a while.”
Chubb saw the long funnel from the living room window of her home in the Okanagan Center and looked out over the lake.
She wasn’t the only one who saw or took a photo of the ‘Sea Tornado’.
“It was so cool! Myself and the car in front of me had to pull up for it,” said Tiffany Dorion.
The weather phenomenon was also observed by Joanne Croom, who captured two of them on camera. According to Croom, however, it is not a tornado, but an evaporation mist on the lake.
Weather Network meteorologist Jaclyn Whittal says they are, in fact, steam devils.
“They happen over the Great Lakes when we get the coldest air of the season almost every year,” Whittal said.
“We have a very cold outbreak in the Arctic right now and it all has to do with the difference in water temperature in the air above,” said Whittal, noting that the devils also appear over the Great Lakes during cold spells.
“This creates convection … Steam can form right over the water (as you can see in the picture). Rising air from the warm lake water can also create some wind shear and steam can be drawn into a vortex. This vortex shows this great phenomenon, the steam devil. “
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A tornado landed on Okanagan Lake near Fintry, as pictured from Lake Country Friday February 12th. (Photo by Tiffany Dorion)
Two marine tornadoes are forming over Lake Okanagan on Friday, February 12th. (Photo by Joanne Croom)
