SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/pilot-radiation-fog

Radiation fog usually forms under which conditions?

Clear nights with little or no wind.

  1. Clear nights with little or no wind ✔
  2. Strong winds blowing in off the ocean
  3. Moist air pushed up a mountain slope

Why: On clear, calm nights the ground loses heat fast and cools the air touching it to its dew point. Low spots and valleys fill with fog. It usually burns off as the sun warms things or the wind picks up.

Huh, didn't know that: Fog is simply a cloud that sits on the surface.

The dad joke
What happens when the fog lifts in California? UCLA.
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Sources

  1. FAA Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-25C), Chapter 12 https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/faa-h-8083-25c.pdf

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