Florida has its share of intimidating natural phenomena, from tornadoes to hurricanes to high winds that can take out entire trees. While these weather systems usually come with a fair amount of warning from local officials, there is one strange phenomenon that kills more people than hurricanes and lightning in Florida, yet you hardly ever hear about it: smoke fog.
Smoke fog occurs when smoke from wildfires collides with early morning radiation fog, immediately diminishing visibility as the two swirl together to create a denser cloud than either could create independently. It creates such a dense cloud that drivers have reported being unable to see the hood of their own car. Once enveloped in the cloud, there is little that can be done to safely exit other than reduce your speed and drive very carefully.
This phenomenon occurs during the cool season in Florida, when rain is uncommon, nights are cooler, and winds are mild. Wildfires that burn during the cool season sputter out as evening rolls in; once the flame extinguishes, the embers still smolder for days afterward.
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Fog is also more common in Florida during the cool season, which can begin in January and stretch through May. Radiational cooling of the Earth’s surface and the air closest to it brings on an atmospheric inversion roughly 200-400 feet above the ground. Once that surface air cools to the dewpoint, water droplets form into fog. The fog then dissipates as the surface air warms again with the sun.
On its own, radiational fog poses little threat to visibility, and the same can be said for smoke, generally speaking. However, a reaction happens when the two combine. The carbon and ash bits contained within the smoke provide an abundance of condensation nuclei for water droplets. Those nuclei can result in even more water droplets being created. But, these new droplets contain smoke within them, making for a much denser cloud of smoke fog.
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This reaction explains why smoke fog can appear seemingly out of nowhere, and it is incredibly hard to predict. Researchers continue to do work to see how to better predict smoke fog and get warnings out to the public in enough time to save lives. In the meantime, keep a wary eye on those fields when you smell smoke, but only see fog. Chances are very good smoke fog will form right in front of your eyes.
Featured Image from Brian Sumner/Unsplash
