Sunrise on the Maumee

Sunrise on the Maumee

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Freezing Fog



I have a lot to learn about weather.  My understanding has always been that the warmer air is, the more moisture it can hold.  I've always thought the opposite would be true - the colder air became, the less moisture it could hold.

This morning at 6 am the official NOAA temperature for Toledo was -14 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity was a whopping 94%.  As unlikely as these measurements are, they are the perfect condition for something called freezing fog.  There are six types of fog according to NOAA.  Freezing fog occurs when the water droplets are supercooled, freezing when coming in contact with solid objects.

I didn't attempt to take a photograph of fog at 6am, but there was still some layered over the frozen river around 8am.



An hour later, the sun was sparkling in the frosted trees.

I'll add this to my other weather lessons learned this winter about the Polar Vortex and Thundersnow.




5 comments:

  1. You got it. Beautiful. Very interesting. We didn't get any frost. Hmmm . . . I'll run this past a scientist I know :)

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  2. Later in the day, the warming sun melted the ice on the trees and as the water fell, it refroze into big, oddly shaped flakes. It looked like it was snowing, but only under the trees. This winter has certainly provided no shortage of rare weather phenomena.

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  3. Dan. That would have made an interesting video. This has been a remarkable winter . .. but . . . pretty please don't attribute it to global warming ;)

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