Steam rising off Lake Michigan and the Chicago River Friday morning made for a stunning sight as the city saw its coldest temperatures in years.
With air temperatures below zero and wind chills reaching as low as -40 degrees Friday morning, the dangerous cold also brought with it some incredible visuals.
Footage near sunrise showed steamy waters in and around Chicago as the cold air hit warmer water.
According to NASA, it’s a phenomenon known as “steam fog,” which happens when cold air passes over warmer waters like Lake Michigan, with the contrast between the two creating a “visual spectacle.”
“As a mass of dry, cold air moves over a warmer lake the warm lake conducts warm, moist air into the air mass above. This transport between the lake and air evens out,” the National Weather Service reported.
According to the University of Maine, the “steam” forms when “really cold air moves over relatively warmer water and the thin boundary layer of warm air just above the surface.”
When the evaporating droplets rise, the cold air can only hold a limited amount of moisture, forcing the liquid to condense into fog, according to the university.
Arctic air arrived overnight in the Chicago area, with an extreme cold warning in effect for all of northeastern Illinois.
As of 5 a.m., temperatures across the area were all below zero and dropping, NBC 5 Storm Team Meteorologist Alicia Roman said. Winds were expected to gust as high as 30 mph as the morning continued.
“It’s a very blustery, frigid morning” Roman said. “The only thing we have going for us, is we may have a little sunshine today.”
The brutal conditions also forced Metra to reduce service and led to more than 100 schools in Illinois, including Chicago Public Schools, to announce closures or moves to e-learning Friday.
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