December Fog
My farm looks so eerie covered in a blanket of thick fog.
Do you get a lot of fog where you live? My property is in close proximity to a reservoir, where early patches of fog are quite common. Fog is essentially made up of condensed water droplets - a result of the air being cooled to the point where it can no longer hold all the water vapor it contains. It can be thin or thick - sometimes so thick it obscures the road and other objects ahead making it difficult for driving or even walking. Yesterday, I had a dense fog, which covered the area for most of the day.
It was a great opportunity to capture some photos of this atmospheric phenomenon, enjoy.
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- This is my long Boxwood Allée now covered in protective burlap for the winter. Yesterday, the atmosphere was filled with thick fog. At the end is my stable, but the thick fog makes it nearly impossible to see.
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- Here is one of my handsome Friesians standing in the pasture. Foggy, wet conditions can sometimes bother horses, but we only got light rain on this day, and plenty of fog that lasted several hours.
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- Do you know how fog forms? Fog can form in two ways: either by cooling the air to its dew point or by evaporation and mixing. This happens often when the earth radiates heat at night or in the early morning.
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- Fog happens when it is very humid. There has to be a lot of water vapor in the air for fog to form. This is one section of an allée of lindens planted between two paddocks leading down to my chicken yard.
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- Here are my five donkeys in another pasture. They don’t seem to mind the weather at all.
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- This is a southern view looking at my living maze. Hard to see, but my Winter House home is in the distance.
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- And this is the older Linden Allée just outside my stable. Don’t confuse fog and mist. Fog is denser than mist. This means fog contains more water molecules in the same amount of space. Fog cuts visibility down to six-tenths of a mile while mist can reduce visibility to about one to 1.2 miles.
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- The thicker the fog, the longer it takes to dissipate. This fog lasted several hours along with light rain showers. This view shows my golden weeping willows.
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- Here, dozens of geese gather in what I call my “Run In” paddock. Wild birds love to visit my farm. I also see wild turkeys, and raptors or birds of prey, such as hawks, falcons, and turkey vultures.
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- This photo shows the thick fog through the woodland. But, the foggiest place in the world is Grand Banks, off the island of Newfoundland, Canada. The cold Labrador current from the north and the warm Gulf Stream current from the east create just the right conditions for thick fog to form almost every day of the year.
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- This fog is in my back hayfield where I grow lots of hay for my horses. Edging the field on one side is a stand of red maples.
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- At the far end of the back hayfield is my giant sycamore tree, the symbol of my farm. This tree is among the largest of the trees on the property.
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- Even with the dense fog, my outdoor grounds crew keeps busy with all the late fall chores. Our biggest task right now is to cover all the boxwood shrubs and hedges with burlap.
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- This is a view of my middle field, another area that is dedicated to growing lots of nutritious hay for my horses. At the left edge is a stand of Japanese zelkova trees, closely related to the elm.
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- These are also linden trees – half of my long allée that starts at the carriage road to my Winter House and extends north between the fenced pastures all the way to my chicken coops.
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- This bare tree stands behind my goose pen. Ever wonder why it is called “fog?” One definition of fog from the 14th century refers to tall grasses. Many grasses use fog as part of their name such as Yorkshire fog grass. Fog was also the Danish word for mist or spray in the 16th century. It is thought that the two definitions may have merged when mist was noted over a field of grass.
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- This is my orchard. Another interesting story involving fog includes President George Washington. During the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776, George Washington and his troops were fighting a losing battle against the British. When a thick fog descended on the area, Washington took the opportunity to withdraw thousands of his troops into Manhattan. After the fog lifted, the British descended on the American positions, only to find they had left. The Americans’ miraculous retreat saved their lives.
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- These are the great Eastern white pine trees on the left. Hard to see their bold green color, but they do stand out in clear conditions.
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- On this foggy morning it was even difficult to see trees up close. This is my pinetum, or an arboretum of pine trees or other conifers.
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- Today we’re expecting one to two inches of rain and high winds with temperatures in the 60s – unusually warm for this time of year. And winter officially starts in just 10 days.
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