ORLANDO, Fla. – If you’ve noticed your morning commute looking hazy lately, it’s not just because it’s the first full week back from the holiday break.
Fog is very common in Florida during the cooler months, especially in late fall and winter.
Why the foggy stretch?
The main reason comes down to a combination of clear nights, light winds and plenty of leftover moisture near the ground.
This time around, a large area of high pressure has been sitting nearly stationary over the Gulf of Mexico. That setup has kept winds very light and the atmosphere stagnant, allowing fog to form night after night with little change in conditions.
How Does Fog Form?
After sunset, the warmth from the day escapes into space, dropping temperatures quickly under clear skies.
When the humid air at the surface begins to cool down, the air condenses and forms fog.
In Central Florida, this process is often intensified around lakes waterways and dew-covered fields, adding more moisture to the air.
This process is known as radiational fog, and it’s the most common type of fog we see across inland Florida during the winter.
On nights with a calm wind, there’s nothing to help mix around that moisture away, so it settles close to the ground and creates a stubborn fog layer.
Over time, visibility can drop significantly as dawn approaches. Once the sun rises, it warms the ground and the air above it, helping to evaporate any lingering fog.
How much longer?
The good news is that an approaching cold front on Sunday will help reshuffle the air, increasing winds and bringing drier air into the region, which should finally put an end to this foggy stretch.