During the early morning hours of April 22nd, fog began to form across southern Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. In anticipation of the fog, the NWS Weather Forecast Office in Wilmington OH issued a Dense Fog Advisory for a portion of their forecast area.
Latest guidance increases confidence in development of areas of dense fog late tonight. Based on this, have hoisted Dense Fog Advisory south of Interstate 71.
NWS ILN, AFD Issued at 0133 UTC (9:33 EDT)
Confirmation of the dense fog can be observed via satellite from the Nighttime Microphysics RGB starting around 0500 Z (1:00 AM EDT), with greater contributions from the Green Band (10.3 um – 3.9 um band difference) and minor contributions from the Blue Band (10.3 um band). The stationary, more faint, and highly localized appearance of the fog stands in contrast to the low level clouds in southwest Pennsylvania and central West Virginia, which often have a similar color due to similarities in their composition. Additionally the movement of cirrus and stratocumulus clouds into the area, from precipitation over Indiana, did obscure the extent of the fog in western Ohio by 1000 Z (6:00 AM EDT). This is one limitation of the product, as skies have to be fairly clear in order to properly identify fog.
Based on surface observations and imagery from the Nighttime Microphysics RGB, it was apparent by 0830 Z (4:30 AM EDT) that the dense fog was expanding north of Interstate 71. This confirms NWS Wilmington expanding the Dense Fog Advisory north into the Cincinnati and Dayton metro areas, prior to the increase of traffic during the morning rush. In this case the combination of surface observations and the Nighttime Microphysics RGB can provide confirmation of developing fog and its spread overnight for the Dense Fog Advisory. Using satellite RGBs in tandem with other observations can help maximize situational awareness, especially when satellite data cannot be relied on exclusively as shown in this example.
The fog is becoming dense in many locations across northern KY, southern Ohio, and southeast Indiana. Have expanded the dense fog advisory north to about I-70.
NWS ILN, AFD Issued at 0831 Z (4:31 AM EDT).
Satellite Liaison Blog 