What is the white smoke-like fog called?
Some kind of radiation fog (ground fog is a synonym):
Radiation fog is formed by the cooling of land after sunset by thermal radiation in calm conditions with clear sky. The cool ground produces condensation in the nearby air by heat conduction. In perfect calm the fog layer can be less than a meter deep but turbulence can promote a thicker layer. Radiation fogs occur at night, and usually do not last long after sunrise, but they can persist all day in the winter months especially in areas bounded by high ground such as the Vale of York in England. Radiation fog is most common in autumn and early winter. Examples of this phenomenon include the Tule fog.
Ground fog is fog that obscures less than 60% of the sky and does not extend to the base of any overhead clouds. However, the term is usually a synonym for radiation fog.
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Burnaby Outdoors – birds, nature, parks by George Clulow
Who said it wasn't called "mist"? I live in a climate where this is a daily occurence during the spring and fall seasons. It may not technically be mist falling from the sky, but if you were sitting in a canoe on this lake, you would experience this lazy cloud (that's what I call it, 'cause it's lagging behind) as just that.
In my experience,the words "mist on the lake," are quite common in written and spoken expression.
"Fog" is used when one is engulfed in the stuff, and a view of the distance is obscured.
"Haze can be natural, but is usually used to refer to an anomaly - such as smoke, or spray paint, or hairspray - temporarily hovering in the air. It is not as dense as what we call "fog".
Also, "a haze on the lake" might be something (like oil or gasoline) on the surface of the water. (US)
I would say that fog or mist actually do seem to be the most likely candidates, especially if you are going for general language use.
From OED:
fog, n.2
2.
a. Thick mist or watery vapour suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth's surface; an obscured condition of the atmosphere due to the presence of dense vapour.
From OED:
mist, n.1
1.
a. A natural phenomenon consisting of a diffuse cloud of fine water droplets suspended in the atmosphere on or near the ground so as to limit visibility (but to a lesser extent than fog); such droplets viewed collectively as a substance or medium. Also fig. and in fig. context.
In meteorology mist is now distinguished from fog as being less opaque, with visibility of at least one kilometre, and from haze, which is due to solid particles not water droplets.
One possible name is for the phenomena is haze
haze a slight obscuration of the lower atmosphere, typically caused by fine suspended particles.
ODO tells us that haze is a probably a back-formation of hazy, an early 17th century nautical term meaning 'foggy'.
The Online Etymology Dictionary appears to state that the terms haze, fog and mist are practically interchangeable.
The English differentiation of haze, mist, fog (and other dialectal words) is unmatched in other tongues, where the same word generally covers all three and often "cloud" as well, and this may be seen as an effect of the English climate on the language.
But perhaps a more accurate name for it would be sea smoke
Sea smoke, frost smoke, or steam fog, is fog which is formed when very cold air moves over warmer water. Arctic sea smoke is sea smoke forming over small patches of open water in sea ice.
It forms when a light wind of very cold air mixes with a shallow layer of saturated warm air immediately above the warmer water. The warmer air is cooled beyond the dew point and can no longer hold as much water vapor, so the excess condenses out. The effect is similar to the "steam" produced over a hot bath or a hot drink, or even an exercising person.
I believe we both share a love for nature.I have seen this phenomenon many times before myself.This site has many photos of this phenomenon, http://sense-of-place-concord.blogspot.com/2013/09/walden-mysts.html, just to make sure we are talking about the same thing.
I think this morning phenomenon is called water vapor.This link gives an accurate explanation under the heading why does water vapor rise from ponds on cold mornings?
At normal surface atmospheric pressure, water evaporates.
Even ice cubes in a freezer will evaporate.
The vapor is not hot enough to be steam, as from a kettle or heated pot,
but it is water vapor,
and the lower air temperature cause the vapor to condense enough to be visible.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071206063816AAZoWa7