Category: Winter

Minus 8, Plus 41

Posted on by MC2 · Leave a comment

It took until mid-Janurary but we finally have some decent winterish weather. While I was disappointed to see the big snow falling to the north, we at least get to enjoy the sub-zero temps. Due to the mild weather to date the lake Michigan water is still pretty warm, my weather app showed it at 41 degrees. The air temperature however was hovering around -8 degrees (before wind chill), which meant the water was almost 50 degrees warmer than the air. Perfect conditions for steam forming above the waters of the lake which makes for some awesome imagery. So I planned a day around hiking out to the lake on the Miller Woods trail in the Indiana Dunes National Park.

Note that spending several hours outside in extreme cold and high winds is not something to be taken lightly. I have spent years learning how to do so safely. I plan to share what I have learned about how to do nature photography safely in cold weather, both as a series of posts on this site and as part of a workshop I will be giving at the Paul H Douglas Center for Environmental Education for the National Park Service on February 11, noon to 2pm.

Winding through the dunes alongside a frozen lagoon on the way to the beach. The cold (-30 degrees with the wind chill) made it a fun and interesting experience, but otherwise things appeared no different than any ordinary winter day.
Here at the point where the trail breaks out onto the beach I got my first glimpse of the roiling cauldron of steam that I was hoping to find. I knew right away that it was going to be good as there was a 30 mph wind blowing OUT towards the lake, while strong waves coming from the opposite direction were pounding the shore.
This image shows the extent of the steam rising from the warm waters and condensing in the cold air. The sky was clear and cloudless everywhere except for a thin layer right above the warm water of the lake. What this image does not convey is the fact that the steam from the lake was streaming into the wind coming from offshore. There must have been some very strong convection currents going on.
Looking a little to the right you could clearly see how the steam from the adjoining steel mill was blowing out over the water as it rose above the layer of steam over the lake.
With the camera pointed into the steam bath the scene looks like a spring storm coming ashore.
As cold and angry as the lake appeared, there were plenty of birds flying around as if it were an ordinary day. But at -8 degrees with a wind chill of -30 it was anything but an ordinary experience. These are the kind of conditions which make me excited about going out for a nice hike to the beach.