WOAY-TV (Oak Hill, WV): Chief Meteorologist Chad Merrill reconstructs weather events that unfolded that lead to Wednesday morning’s dense fog.
Chief Meteorologist Chad Merrill explains:
The bottom line from today’s forensic analysis shows many factors were in place for dense fog:
- We had rain Tuesday evening that moistened the dry ground.
- We are fully-leaved now and leaves give off plenty of moisture (evapotranspiration)
- Observations from the Beckley-Memorial Airport show the sky cleared around 1 a.m. Wednesday. Moisture at the surface got trapped under an inversion (rise in temperature aloft) that promoted fog development.
- The sun mixes out the inversion more slowly on a foggy day, so fog lingered until 10 a.m. A time-lapse of the dissipating fog Wednesday confirms that fog LIFTS; it DOES NOT “burn off.”
- Dense Fog Advisories are most frequently issued at 2-3 a.m. in our region.
- April and May, then August and September historically are the foggiest times of the year in our region.
Sponsored Content
