|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
For some reason, we've had by far more fog on the farm this year than in any other year we can recall. Doesn't matter the season: we're pulling in fog. I hope it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I've taken on AWAD as a hobby, fog attracting fog and all that. (My fog--not yours, of course, illustrious company.)
Anyway, cut through the fog to the chase:
I've noticed that even when the fog is nearly impossible to drive through on country roads without being in danger of going off the road, when I hit the interstate, the fog is divided between median and the woods, marshes, farmlands to the right. It appears to be a phenomenon. I drive very slowly on the country roads, but hit the interestate and all is well again.
Is there a name for what happens to the fog when you get to an interstate and the fog appears to be divided--has its avenue of clarity on and above the interstate itself between fog over median to the left and fog over marsh to the right? I've been observing this phenomenon all year and have wondered whether fog specialists may have a term for it.
I have lots of other observations to make about fog, but will save them for a rainy day.
Best regards,
WW
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Stab in the dark: Maybe it has to do with the temperature of the asphalt surface? It stays warm because cars drive over it, and it heats the air above it. The warmed air rises, and pushes the fog up a bit? Just an educated guess. Fog is amazing. I have never experienced fog like in Newfoundland. The other night, I was at my Taekwondo class. The school is up a hill, and has windows so you could see the fog rolling in from the sea towards town. I got in my car and drove home, descending into the ever-thickening fog. When I got home, everything was obscured. You could see our neighbours immediately nearby, but not much else. Generally we have quite a view. It gets so humid here, while still cold. On really humid days, the carpet is damp, and the CAT gets damp. She's my little furry hygrometer! 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
It gets so humid here, while still cold....which adds a whole nother dimension to the expression, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity!" 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Bean,
Your description of the fog from the school on the hill made me recall seeing an old horror film called, The Fog. There were lots of shots of fog rolling in just as you described--only in this film the fog was a killer.
I cannot remember how it turned out. Very foggy on that account. I tend to forget endings to thrillers and punchlines for jokes. I am sure there is some kind of psychological term for this kind of habitual blocking out.
Thanks for your theory. I doubt it would apply here because the interstate isn't traveled that much up around the farm and I wonder whether the little traffic there would heat up the road enough. Just a thought--you could be right since you're a scientist!!
The effect is positively chilling, however, as you speed down the interstate, but take a glance at the marshes on the right, a varitable cotton-eye of white with eery black arms of trees looking like bony fingers about to scratch their nails on a board. At high speed, that mass of white cotton and so many scary arms scratching really gets to me. Better keep my eyes on the road or one day I'll end up in the marshes!
Best regards,
WW
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
Interesting observation. I'd never noticed that. I've noticed some things, but maybe not the same thing. I don't get a lot of fog where I live now. When we drive to my parents' house in TN, there's often considerable fog on I-75 and many people don't slow down a whit as it bogarts in.
Have you ever seen ice fog? I'm not exactly sure how it's different than regular fog. We used to get ice fog up in Fairbanks. I don't know why they called it that, but it was pretty opaque stuff. Sometimes I could barely make out my hand at the end of my arm and the stop sign 15 or so feet away was completely invisible.
k
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
as you speed down the interstate
One more question, then: Is the interstate a bit higher than the land around it? (My only experience with USn highways was Montana/North/South Dakota.) I find the fog here tends to "sit" in the valleys. Actually, sometimes it looks like cotton balls, just sitting, all fluffy and thick and white, in the valleys. I guess it's denser than plain old air, and sinks.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
Since Robert Frost said that fog comes in on little cat feet, that explains why you have to pussy-foot through it. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Robert FrostWasn't that Carl Sandburg? (Though if it were Mr. Frost it would be much punnier! )
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
The cars on superhighway have hot engines that can raise air temperatures appreciably, causing tiny droplest of moisture to evaporate. Remember how the lanes dry up if previously wet?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544 |
More wild guessing - mightn't it also be that there are large objects whizzing down the interstate, creating wind patterns that may blow the fog clear of the lanes? If the fog is as dense as you describe, it's probably not moving much, so the wind from speeding cars could blow it off the road and it would just collect wherever there isn't such wind.
I recognize that this means some people have to go fast before the fog clears, but as we've heard from others here, that happens.
Here in San Francisco, we get plenty of fog, but it tends to be higher up and just cools the area down in the afternoon, rarely creating such a driving hazard. It is beautiful when it comes through the Golden Gate, though, as the Gate forms it into a long, thick bar of fog that extends across the bay, while the sun shines all around it.
The hazard here is the rain - we only get rain in the winter, and each year, when the rains first start, people take no heed of it as they're driving and we seem to have a bunch more accidents on the road. I describe those early rains as "stupidity falling from the sky."
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,372
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
220
guests, and
2
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
