Even though the snow came early, Mother Nature gave us a treat on our Great Lakes: Sea Smoke!

This morning Mlive reported that The Straits of Mackinac and the Mighty Mac are covered in a layer of “sea smoke”.

With winter coming so early this year a very cool thing is happening on our beautiful Great Lakes. Sea Smoke also known as frost smoke or steam fog is described by Wikipedia as a fog  which is formed when very cold air moves over warmer water. 

It forms when a light wind of very cold air mixes with a shallow layer of saturated warm air immediately above the warmer water. The warmer air is cooled beyond the dew point and can no longer hold as much water vapor, so the excess condenses out. The effect is similar to the "steam" produced over a hot bath or a hot drink, or even an exercising person.

While there isn’t a specific time frame for sea smoke to happen, it may be more common for it to happen at night.

So if you live by a lake, a quiet evening walk might just be perfect this evening!

Check Out The Lake Superior Sea Smoke

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