Sea Smoke

 

Just before dawn every autumn, or early in the winter, as the temperature of the air drops well below the temperature of the sea,  the rising sun pulls moisture from the water into the sky. The fog billows up like smoke and runs eastward, towards the sun.  If there is a bit of a breeze, it can look as if the water is boiling, though of course, it is not; it is cooling down.

Early in the morning last Friday, when the thermometer dropped to around -20C, the sea smoke began to form giant clouds over the off-lying islands. Here's how it looked from our house--or, more precisely, from the porch:

 

And looking back into the house:

 

Sea smoke is also called "artic steam fog." Brr! Nothing steamy about it. For us it means that soon the sea will freeze.