What is freezing fog?

[Avalux]

I've never heard that term before, but when I looked at the forecast at my brother's house, that's what it said. He's currently in the middle of a white out.

[hrmjustin]

1. when fog rolls in everything feels damp.

In freezing fog it coats everything with ice I believe.

[Avalux]

3. Interesting.

And horrible!

[Baitball Blogger]

14. Sounds like a cotton candy effect.

Last edited Thu Feb 19, 2015, 11:02 PM - Edit history (1)

[uppityperson]

2. There is enough humidity in the air to make fog, low clouds, but not enough to fall as rain or snow

The water droplets in the air contact the ground and other things, and if the temperature if low enough, those tiny droplets freeze into ice. So you can't see, and can't stop.

[Avalux]

4. That sounds really dangerous.

Especially if there wasn't already two feet of snow covering everything!

[cwydro]

5. It's nasty as hell.

Is what it is.

[trof]

6. Ice fog.

It's one of the worst things that can happen to an airplane.
Ice build up on wings and fuselage.
Changes their aerodynamics.
Most airliners have anti-ice devices.

[A HERETIC I AM]

10. I flew British Airways from Detroit to Heathrow several times back in the 90's

(the flight stopped in either Toronto or Montreal) and the first time I flew over (1991, if memory serves) we had to divert to Glasgow because Heathrow had freezing fog.

The airport in Glasgow, Scotland was in no way designed to handle a large number of big planes at once, and the 744 I was on wasn't the only one so diverted! It took over 4 hours from the time we touched down to the point where I cleared customs and another couple to get a British Midlands flight down to London.

All for some god damned freezy mist!

[panader0]

13. I went to a Raiders/ Broncos game once in Denver

It started snowing heavily at half time. That was bad, but worse was that the Raiders won. After the game we went to the airport for our flight back to Az. but the plane was too iced up to take off. We sat in the bar for hours, we could see our plane through the windows, and the guys trying to de-ice the wings. I was quite inebriated by midnight when we finally got out of there.

[RobinA]

7. I Encountered

this once in Colorado Springs. I'm from the east and we don't really have this. It was kinda cool. It's foggy and gray out and it ices up the trees with this frost. It didn't get on the road, so it wasn't a hazard. Very eery and atmospheric, although I guess if you were used to it it was just gray and depressing. The mule deer liked it, because it kept them a bit hidden. It lasted for days.

[olddots]

8. we drove from Stowe Vermont to Boston starting at3 A.M. in freezing fog

White knuckles the whole way . No fun and very dangerous .

[alfie]

9. We frequently get it in the north Georgia mtns.

The mountain tops are frosted by low clouds a lot of mornings during the winter. Lower elevations get frosted when it is foggy and freezing. Everything is coated top and bottom and very pretty. The mountain tops look like they have a fuzzy snow cap.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. We call it ice fog up here.

It's what creates the really thick hoar frost.

[panader0]

12. My ex-father-in-law was a IBEW union member.

There was a freezing fog (about 20 years ago) that rolled into central/eastern Oregon and attached to the huge cross country
power lines. The kind that are up on those huge towers. He showed me photos--the ice had grown to two feet in diameter on each line. The weight collapsed the towers for miles, twisting the metal to pretzels. The IBEW workers came from all over (he was in NM) and worked 24/7 to rebuild the towers and restring the cable.

[rurallib]

15. it really sucks when it freezes on your windshield as you drive

depending on how thick and how cold it is, even seeing can be a real problem.