foggy arab town

The weather here today reminds me of those first warm days after the damp chill that used to frost the OWU campus. Those were always my favorite since every woman on campus knowingly shaved her legs the night before in preparation for a summery ensemble. Every man stocked up on red cups and natty light in preparation for outdoor Beirut tournaments and perhaps a round or two of Frolf. Students never took those moments for granted since they knew the heat would roll in eventually, melting away the rest of the semester before summer break. Here no one seems to think twice about the day. People never talk about the weather or really look up at the sky in awe like we do back home. I will say that the gray and white skies of Rochester are not something to be missed after living in the desert, but they do make for excellent nap days.

This morning I woke up to a thick cloud at my doorstep that stretched all the way to Garhoud. I don’t know how there weren’t any accidents on the way in to work. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to squint through a thick blanket of mist however, and I felt like learning how and why we get fog in the Arabian desert so that mornings like these are not so creepy.

Here’s what I could find. And if you know anything about fog, please, humor me.

Radiation fog is formed by the cooling of land after sunset by thermal radiation in calm conditions with clear sky. The cool ground produces condensation in the nearby air by heat conduction. In perfect calm the fog layer can be less than a meter deep but turbulence can promote a thicker layer. Radiation fogs occur at night, and usually do not last long after sunrise. Radiation fog is common in autumn, and early winter. Examples of this phenomenon include the Tule fog. For clarity, Radiation fog is not radioactive. http://www.nwas.org/ej/pdf/2007-FTT1.pdf

Here’s another story I found about fog in the desert, but it’s more applicable to the Omani coast than the northern Arabian peninsula.