Sunday, February 24, 2008

Fog Bows

I never knew they existed until today. Immediately when I saw one I called it a fog bow, and guess what, that's what they are. Today was the second foggy day up the lake this week. Fog can be very beautiful, but it can also be very dangerous when trying to navigate on water with a small boat. Today we left the cabin and sat in our boat at the edge of the fog waiting for it to dissipate. While there we had the opportunity to be "enveloped" in all of the aspects of fog.

Fog on Powell Lake is typically radiation fog. It occurs most often in fall and winter months following a heavy rain when the skies clear and the temperatures drop. The fog forms at night when the earth's surface cools and the air reaches the dew point. It then hangs over inlets, lakes and valleys until the sun has a chance to warm the air. It burns off the land more readily, but can continue to hang over the water much longer. That's for sure.

Here are a few of my fog shots from today including a fog bow. Fog bows are white in color because the water droplets in the fog are so small. With the naked eye I could see both ends of the fog bow, but I was unable to capture the entire image in my camera lens. It was pretty amazing!

Here is a great book if you want to learn more about weather in BC. It is Living with weather along the British Columbia Coast: The Veil of Chaos by Owen S. Lange (Environment Canada 2003). It has a good introduction with weather definitions followed by detailed information about weather systems and seasonal weather conditions along our coast. A must read for mariners and landlubbers alike. -- Margy

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We welcome your comments and questions. - Wayne and Margy