Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Fog vs Mist vs Cloud

I was on the top of the hill sometime ago enjoying the beautiful scenery with fog flowing past me. Then a question provoked me, "Y do u call it fog, and not mist? wat r the differences? y fog and not cloud?"

so i did some homework and heregoes...

definition from Compact Oxford English Dictionary; www.wordsmyth.net; pamela's conclusion:

FOG: a thick cloud of tiny water droplets suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth’s surface which obscures or restricts visibility; a thick cloudlike mass or layer made up of tiny water droplets suspended in the air near the ground; fogs are near earth surface

MIST: a cloud of tiny water droplets in the atmosphere, limiting visibility to a lesser extent than fog; a concentration of droplets of water or the like suspended in the air; mist is much lighter & smaller & simpler than fog

CLOUD: a visible mass of condensed watery vapour floating in the atmosphere, typically high above the general level of the ground; a visible body, usu. white or gray, of fine water droplets high in the earth's atmosphere; cloud is a body.

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