What actually are fog and mist?

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I understand that fog is denser mist, and that essentially, it’s all just water vapour. But so are clouds. So why is water vapour sometimes at ground level? Why is it only sometimes? Why is it usually albeit not always at night? What makes it happen? And what makes it NOT happen?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Yes, it’s just clouds that happen to be at ground level.

Air can hold on to less water when it’s cold, which is why fog is most common during the coldest parts of the day.

In general, air near the surface both heats up from the energy that sunlight dumps into the ground, and also absorbs moisture, if there’s any present on the ground. This warm air rises, cools off, and can now hold on to less moisture so clouds form. Fog happens when the warm wet air cools off without rising(or when you’re somewhere the wet air can rise to, like a mountain).

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