ORLANDO, Fla. – The last few mornings have felt like our very own version of John Carpenter’s “The Fog,” no kidding. Or if you’re more of a Stephen King fan, “The Mist.”
Anyone else feel like they need to watch their back, especially leaving home before sunrise, in the midst of such low visibility and thick, eerie fog?
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Well, let’s all hope nothing is lurking within this somewhat spooky and almost mystical weather phenomena.
In fact, like clockwork, foggy season seems to have officially settled in for Central Florida after a cold start to 2025. The temperature pendulum we keep swinging on is a direct contributor to such foggy starts to your day.
It all started when the January arctic invasion kicked off for the eastern U.S. A lot of that freezing cold air made its way across Florida. We started our day with temperatures below freezing in some spots, lots of frost, ice and even snow for our neighbors in the Panhandle.
Then at the drop of a hat, temperatures immediately bounced back. In approximately 48 hours, we left the freezing air and rejoined the tropics with highs in the afternoon reaching low to mid 70s. Again - this all took place from a Saturday morning to a Monday afternoon. Talk about weather shellshock.
However, when you chill the air out as much as we did for an extended period of time, there’s another piece of the puzzle that cools down rapidly as well. Our continental shelf waters are now somewhere between 63-65 degrees Fahrenheit.
Water is a great insulator of temperatures. When it’s heated, it stays hot for a much longer time than land does. It’s why you’ve likely been bombarded with “the waters are hot” again and again during each recurring hurricane season. When they cool, the same principle is applied. They’ll stay much colder than any nearby landmass.
Now, you combine colder-than-average shelf waters off our immediate coastline with above-average surface temperatures like we’ve been battling the last few days and it’s the PERFECT combo for fog. LOTS of fog.
Note in the graphic below, the fog is even more piled up along the beaches. It’s all about temperature discontinuity coupled with the natural Florida humidity.
As our pattern locally rearranges, some of this fog will start to dissipate and become a lot less dense in Central Florida.
But regardless, be safe in your commutes, remember to show courtesy to others and just be smart.
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