Though he is often in the 麻豆社国产Estuary taking photos, this wasn't something long-time local photographerhad ever seen before.
At about 10 a.m. on March 22, he saw a column of mist reaching up from the ground to the sky.
It lasted about 20 seconds, he said.
told The Chief it is a steam devil.
"It is very fascinating and very rare," he said.
A steam devil is described by as a: "small, gentle whirling column of saturated air of varying height, with a smaller diameter and an approximately vertical axis that forms when cold air is over a relatively much warmer body of water or saturated surface."
Ross noted it was a relatively cool morning yesterday, and the sun was coming up.
"All that is the perfect recipe," he said.
Ross has never seen one in Squamish.
"I have seen a cold air funnel. It came out of a cumulus cloud and it lasted about half an hour. I have seen what you would call a weak funnel cloud. But nothing that touched the ground," he said.
"Nothing like this."
Ross said that he sometimes gets calls from people saying they have seen little tornadoes over the water, but that is not what they are seeing.
"In Howe Sound, we can get under the right atmospheric conditions, Ross noted. "That is the closest we can ever get to a tornado."
**Please note, this story has been corrected since it was first posted to read , as opposed to World Meteorological Association, as first stated.
