# How cold must it be to see your breath?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-must-it-be-to-see-your-breath/326667>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 17, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-must-it-be-to-see-your-breath/326667 "2005-10-17T22:46:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-must-it-be-to-see-your-breath/326667/21 "2005-10-20T01:58:57Z")

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> [@Shoeless](#):
>
> Maybe I’m oversimplifying or not taking other factors into account, but to me it seems that the obvious answer is “whatever the dewpoint is”. If not, why not?

If the temperature of the air is equal to the dewpoint, it’s foggy.

So, sure, if the air temperature is less than the dewpoint _of your breath_, that’s how you get foggy breath. But it has little to do with the dewpoint of the air around you.

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