Steam devil facts for kids
A steam devil is a swirling column of air that looks a bit like a mini-tornado, but it's made of steam or smoke instead of dust. These cool natural events happen when air starts to spin and mixes with hot, moist air or smoke.
You'll often find steam devils near places that produce a lot of heat and steam, like power plants. But they can also pop up in other interesting spots, such as deserts or close to hot springs, where steam naturally rises from the ground. Sometimes, very cold air can also help create them, especially near large bodies of water like the Great Lakes.
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What Is a Steam Devil?
A steam devil is a type of vortex, which is a spinning column of fluid (in this case, air). Imagine water going down a drain – that's a vortex! Steam devils are similar, but they happen in the air and are visible because of the steam or smoke they pick up. They are usually much smaller and weaker than tornadoes.
How Do Steam Devils Form?
Steam devils need two main things to form:
- Hot, moist air or steam: This provides the "fuel" for the steam devil. It could be steam from a power plant, water evaporating from a hot spring, or even vapor from lava hitting the ocean.
- Spinning air: This is often caused by differences in temperature. When cold air moves over a much warmer surface, the air near the surface heats up and rises quickly. If there's also some wind or a slight difference in air pressure, it can cause the rising air to start spinning.
When these two conditions meet, the spinning air pulls in the steam or smoke, making the vortex visible.
Where Can You See Steam Devils?
Steam devils are not super common, but they can be seen in a few specific places:
- Near Power Plants: Many power plants use cooling towers that release large plumes of steam. On cold days, this steam can sometimes form steam devils.
- Over Hot Springs or Geysers: Places like Yellowstone National Park, where hot water and steam come out of the ground, can sometimes have small steam devils.
- Over Lava Flows: When hot lava flows into the ocean, it creates huge amounts of steam. This steam can sometimes be caught in spinning air, forming dramatic steam devils, like those seen in Hawaii.
- Over Large Lakes in Winter: When very cold air moves over relatively warmer lake water, a lot of steam (called "sea smoke" or "steam fog") rises from the lake. If the conditions are right, this steam can form devils. This is often seen over the Great Lakes in North America during winter.
Steam Devils vs. Other Swirling Winds
Steam devils are part of a family of spinning air phenomena. Here's how they compare to some others:
- Dust Devil: A dust devil is a spinning column of air that picks up dust or sand from the ground. They form in dry, hot conditions, often in deserts. Unlike steam devils, they don't involve steam or smoke.
- Waterspout: A waterspout is a spinning column of air that forms over water and connects to a cloud. It's essentially a tornado over water. Waterspouts are much more powerful than steam devils and can be dangerous.
- Tornado: A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. Tornadoes are the most powerful and destructive of these spinning air events. Steam devils are much smaller and weaker and don't form from thunderstorms.
Steam devils are generally harmless and are more of a cool sight to behold than a dangerous weather event.
Images for kids
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Figure 1. Steam devils on Lake Michigan on January 31, 1971. This was from the first scientific paper that named and reported this amazing event.
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Figure 2. Arctic sea fog with a narrow steam devil on Lake Champlain, New York, on January 15, 2009.
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Figure 3. A steam devil at Big Island, Hawaii. The large clouds of vapor are created when hot lava flows into the ocean.
