Steam fog

On one of the first really cold mornings of the Fall, the lake behind our house showed an interesting meteorologial phenomenon. When the water is quite a bit warmer than the air above it, more water vapor evaporates into the air than can be absorbed. The excess water vapor condenses as fog and rises in convection currents in a wispy manner. This sort of fog produced over water is called “steam fog” if over fresh water or “sea smoke” if over the ocean. The term “sea smoke” sounds much better to me than “steam fog”.