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This article is specially sent for Murray, who claims fog is manufactured on Cape Sable Island! And I don't doubt that he is correct, despite the article below. Cheers from Jim in Wolfville -------------- Chronicle Herald, Wed., July 25, 2007 Think Lunenburgıs foggy? Scientists think youıre right By RENEE STEVENS LUNENBURG If you live in Lunenburg and think no one else could possibly see as much fog as you do in the early summer, youıre not entirely wrong. Lunenburg County has so much fog that it was chosen as the site for a research project to help Environment Canada understand fog better and, most importantly, how to more accurately forecast it. For the past two years federal scientists have spent June in Battery Point at the mouth of Lunenburg Harbour doing studies. "The complete understanding of the fogıs microphysics helps us to understand how much water is there and the size of those water particles," research scientist Ismail Gultepe said from Toronto on Tuesday. "The whole idea is to better be able to forecast fog in the area so that people can be more informed and it makes it better for planning transportation because Lunenburg has a lot of fog and it can sometimes be dangerous," Mr. Gultepe said. The study showed Lunenburg had fog 65 per cent of the time in June 2006 and only 35 per cent of the time last month. Mr. Gultepe said this was mostly because wind was from the north more often this year, making it colder than the southerly winds experienced in 2006. Southerly winds carry warm, moist air that is more conducive to fog formation. "Nova Scotia is an interesting area because the fog comes from water, it comes from the land and it can be very localized. We looked at climatology information and it showed that in June and July you have more fog and it is a totally different fog than here in Toronto. "We learned a lot from this, but mostly we understand how the fog forms and how we can better forecast it, so if the project is funded again we will look at cold fog next. This will most likely take place in February and March in either Nova Scotia or Newfoundland." Cold fog can be even more dangerous than fog in spring and summer because it not only affects visibility, but also freezes on surfaces, affecting air and land transportation, so Mr. Gultepe said it would be helpful for Environment Canada to better be able to forecast this form of fog as well. He also said Nova Scotia Power blaming salt buildup on power lines for outages could have some validity in the colder months. "The cold fog in the winter could carry saltwater to the power lines and cause it to build up but in the summer months this would be far less likely," he said. ( rstevens@herald.ca)
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