Morning Fog Over the Farm
So many of you comment on how much you enjoy the photographic tours of my Bedford, New York farm, particularly when it is blanketed with early morning fog.
Yesterday was one such morning - for a few hours, the entire property was covered in a dense fog. Fog consists of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Because I live in close proximity to a reservoir, early patches of fog are common, especially in the winter and fall.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- The following photos were taken before 9am. The atmosphere was thick with fog. Here is one side of a linden tree allee with a row of small European beech trees to its left – most still holding on to their leaves. These trees are visible up close, but little can be seen in the distance.
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- Fog is actually made up of millions of tiny droplets of water floating in the air. It can form in two ways: either by cooling the air to its dew point or by evaporation and mixing – this happens when the earth radiates heat at night or in the early morning. I live in a region where there is additional moisture, so when the air is cooled, and the vapor starts to condense, patches of fog emerge.
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- Fog reduces visibility quite a bit. In fact, it can make objects look deceiving. On the other side of this paddock, what may look like a small snow-covered roof is actually a gate to this pasture.
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- Fog is most likely to occur at night or near dawn when the temperature of the day is normally at its lowest. Some describe fog to be “as thick as pea soup”. This was originally used to describe the dingy yellow smog from burning soft coal common in Europe. Such fogs occurred in London until the Clean Air Act of 1956.
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- Here is a view through the grove of old apple trees near my peony gardens. Don’t confuse fog with mist – mist is actually easier to see through. Visibility is at least a half-mile with mist. Visibility below this is considered fog.
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- Look at the fog across the paddock – it’s so dense. However, the foggiest place in the world is the Grand Banks off the island of Newfoundland, Canada. It gets more than 200-days of fog per year.
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- Look carefully, all five of my donkeys are in this photo – they are not bothered by the fog or low visibility at all.
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- There are also several different types of fog – radiation fog, sea fog, ground fog, advection fog, steam fog or called evaporation fog, precipitation fog, upslope fog, valley fog, ice fog, freezing fog, and artificial fog, which is when water, glycerin or propylene glycol are mixed together to create “fog juice” and then passed through a super-heated nozzle at high pressure and atomized into the air in a fine mist.
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- This footpath between the paddocks leads to my Winter House, but it can hardly be seen through the fog. And, the thicker the fog, the longer it takes to dissipate.
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- My dear Friesians are all facing away from the slight wind and light rain.
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- This is my newly pruned allee of lindens outside the pigeon and peafowl pens. It is difficult to see where the road leads, making it quite mysterious and even ghostly.
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- This is a view of the tree line from across the pastures – it’s very hard to see any trees except the Eastern white pines on the left, but on a clear day, the view is gorgeous.
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- And here is a view over the vegetable garden – more dense fog hovers in the atmosphere.
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- Below the chicken coops, I have a grove of majestic dawn redwoods. We planted these trees shortly after I moved to this farm. These trees are considered fast-growers. Dawn redwoods are typically between 50 and 60 feet tall, but can grow taller than 160 feet with a trunk about seven feet in diameter.
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- And by the time this photo was taken on the other side of the pines, they are a bit more bold in color.
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- Here is a closeup of the fence. The melting snow left a pattern on the ground. I am so happy this antique white spruce fencing from Canada has lasted so long – I try to maintain them as best as I can.
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- This giant sycamore tree is just one of the many on the farm. The mighty sycamore is the symbol of the property.
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- Here’s another view looking between two other paddocks and leading toward my stable barn in the distance.
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- The soccer field and weeping hornbeams still look so pretty in winter. As the fog lifts, or burns off, more and more of the trees and shrubs can be seen. This happens as the sun’s heat warms the ground and air.
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- And here is the clematis pergola – its path still covered in a layer of snow. After the fog, the day ended up to be considerably cloudy for some time, but temperatures rose to 50-degrees Fahrenheit – another positive sign spring is on the way.
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