Fog Cloud Over Fundy

June 30, 2008

063008

Provided by: Marie Jose Thivierge
Summary author: Marie Jose Thivierge 

The photo above showing a curious fog bank was observed in Fundy National Park, New Brunswick, Canada, on July 12, 2003. We visited Cape Enrage as the fog arrived and couldn’t see more then 10 ft (3m) in front of us. Walking from the car to the lighthouse, which was invisible to us, we made our way by listening to the foghorn. When cool air above the bay water moves over warm, moist land, the temperature of the surface will drop considerably. If the surface cools to its dew point temperature, as it did on this day, fog will form. The province of Nova Scotia is across the bay, at the upper right of the picture.

Because water has a high thermal inertia, it heats up much slower in summer than does adjacent land surfaces and cools down in fall more slowly than land. Air moving across large water bodies, such as the Great Lakes (see yesterday's EPOD), or Bay of Fundy can result in different weather related phenomena depending upon the differences between the air and water temperature.