Weather

Lake, mountains, clouds, and forests.

The moods of the Lake are largely a reaction to the weather. Variations in the water level—from vernal floods, to seiches, through eolian waves, and cat’s paw prints—are all weather driven. Whether pelted by hail or caressed by steam fog, the Lake dances to a tune played by the weather.

And, on an even deeper level, the very presence of the Lake owns much to the fact that it drains a large region of the interior wet belt. The rather substantial precipitation in the region is a fact of the weather, but that weather is a reaction of the winds to the Columbia Mountains (Monashees, Selkirks, Purcells, Cariboos), within which the Lake sits.

Organization  Standard elementary treatments of clouds follow an old scheme based upon altitude: high, middle, low. The organization here is based upon the physical processes causing the clouds. This provides more understanding of what is seen.

My enjoyment of the Lake is inextricably bound to the weather. This section will explore some of the interactions; more will be added anon.

  steam fog, over the Lake  evanescent sprites and devils
  steam fog, over the land  steaming fields and mountains
  advection fog  a veil of white
  stratus  and valley fog
  wave clouds  along with cap clouds, billows, pileus, and smoking mountain
  cumulus clouds  a vigourously growing cloud of summertime
  thunderstorms  the storm cloud of summertime
  cirrus  locks of hair aloft
  snow level, rime and virga  a November mountainside
  meteorological miscellany  a grab bag
  interior wet belt  region is relatively wet
  condensation  water vapour into droplets

Weather’s delightful light shows—rainbows, haloes, coronae, shadows, shines, mirages—are treated in the section entitled, the play of light. Also, some climatology is presented on numbers.