The Weather Notebook: Raising the Fog

Raising the Fog
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Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton and this is The Weather Notebook.

Sometimes in winter, Fairbanks, Alaska is transformed into a fuzzy dream world pierced only by bright lights. That's ice fog. It's a curtain of moisture that descends on the lowland area of the city's downtown during its coldest days.

As otherworldly as it may seem, in real time ice fog can be hazardous to drivers and, as Amy Mayer reports today, is causing carbon monoxide levels to build up in the air.

Fairbanks is one of the few cities that still exceeds federal carbon monoxide standards, though only in the winter. Air quality expert, Paul Rossow, says severe inversions trap cold air close to the ground.

"You can go up in altitude by only 30 feet and measure a temperature difference of 5 to 10 degrees Farhenheit difference, which is a very strong inversion and actually functions as a ceiling.

So, car emissions and other pollutants can't escape. Fairbanks needs to reduce the level of wintertime carbon monoxide and not meeting the standards could ultimately cause economic and political problems for the state. Warming the engine and oil pan with electric heaters for an hour or two before starting the car can help reduce pollution.

"When it gets really cold, 40, 50, 60 below, it seems like most people just leave it plugged in all the time and that's probably the wisest thing to do under those circumstances."

That's Paul Rossow and I'm Amy Mayer in Fairbanks.

The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory and is supported by the National Science Foundation. Thanks today to assistant producer, Doug Sanborn.