pointing finger animation

  Fog in San Francisco!

By Eric Muller

Topic:
Meteorology

Type of Web activity:
Getting data and activities from the Web

Materials / Software needed:
Depends on activity / Web browsser

Grade Level:
5-12

Time involved:
One class period

Created:
July 1996


The Web Science Workshop lessons were created in cooperation with the Exploratorium Teacher Institute .

This site developed and maintained by Deborah Hunt and Eric Muller .

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When warm air cools, water vapor condenses to form a mist. When this mist is on the earth's surface it's called fog.

Fog forms off the coast of San Francisco. Air in the coastal valleys of the Bay Area and the Central Valley of California heats up during the day. The air in these locations expands and rises. This displaced air must be replaced. Air is sucked from offshore where fog has formed, and in through the Golden Gate. San Francisco just happens to be in the path of this "replacement air." The fog gets carried along as the air makes its way towards the hotter areas.

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