Steam Fog Observed at Kushiro Port, Hokkaido, as Area Logs Lowest Temperature of Winter So Far

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:38 JST, December 20, 2025

Steam fog creates a fantastic scene at Kushiro Port in Kushiro, Hokkaido, early Friday morning, with the port bathed in the golden hue of the morning sun. Steam fog, a meteorological phenomenon in which mist rises like steam from the ocean’s surface, is caused by a difference in temperature between cold air and seawater. The phenomenon tends to occur early in the morning, when the weather is clear and the wind is weak. By 8 a.m. on the day, Kushiro had recorded its lowest temperature of the winter so far, at minus 13.2 C, while the temperature of the ocean was about 5 C.