# Is "freezing fog", a relatively new weather term?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 10, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420 "2010-02-10T14:26:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/1 "2010-02-10T14:26:35Z")
I am in my mid 40’s, and this winter season is the first time I have heard meterologists (weather people) on the news refer to “freezing fog”. Is it a relatively new term that weathermen have started using, or have you heard it used for years?
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/2 "2010-02-10T14:35:07Z")
I’ve been hearing it all my life (~40 years), here in the UK
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/3 "2010-02-10T14:54:05Z")
The phrase “beware the pogonip” appears in the December calendar of every Old Farmer’s Almanac, for at least a century or so. A pogonip is an ice fog.
---
### Author:  [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/4 "2010-02-10T15:06:17Z")
Thanks.
How about you US residents that don’t read the Farmer’s Almanac?
---
### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/5 "2010-02-10T15:45:46Z")
It’s called “ice fog” in Alaska, and I’ve heard the term there since the 60s. Perhaps that’s a different thing, though. It happens during very cold temperatures when there is an inversion.
---
### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/6 "2010-02-10T15:54:35Z")
I don’t know if it is a regional term, or technical term that is moving mainstream, but Google Books finds plenty of old references ([results for 1600-1950](http://books.google.com/books?lr=&as_brr=0&q=%22freezing+fog%22&btnG=Search+Books&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=1600&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=1950)) for the phrase, going back to 1800 in a book by Erasmus Darwin.
---
### Author:  [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/7 "2010-02-10T16:20:20Z")
As a Buffalonian, no, I’ve never heard this, and I thought I’d heard every term for weird winter weather.
---
### Author:  [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/8 "2010-02-10T16:25:39Z")
We were talking about this the other night. It’s been a very popular term in the recent storms, but I don’t remember having heard it before.
Central Oklahoma location - I’m wondering if it’s just a precip type we haven’t typically seen in the past?
---
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/9 "2010-02-10T16:29:06Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> I’ve been hearing it all my life (~40 years), here in the UK
Ditto.
Could this be an example of a transatlantic transfer that has gone west for the first time in a long while?
---
### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/10 "2010-02-10T16:33:20Z")
Wisconsin
It’s not a new term. 40+ years
---
### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/11 "2010-02-10T16:38:33Z")
OK, so the OP has been answered, and I’m sitting here in LA still wondering what the hell “freezing fog” IS! Someone explain! 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/12 "2010-02-10T16:41:22Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#):
>
> A pogonip is an ice fog.
How does one pronounce this? Like “pogo stick” or like “poggan-ipp”?
---
### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/13 "2010-02-10T16:44:00Z")
> [@Asimovian](#):
>
> OK, so the OP has been answered, and I’m sitting here in LA still wondering what the hell “freezing fog” IS! Someone explain! 🙂
Me, too. Chicago reporting, and I’ve never heard “freezing fog.” It’s possible I’m just not paying attention.
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/14 "2010-02-10T16:48:40Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#):
>
> How does one pronounce this? Like “pogo stick” or like “poggan-ipp”?
pä-gə-ˌnip.
---
### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/15 "2010-02-10T16:59:48Z")
> [@Asimovian](#):
>
> OK, so the OP has been answered, and I’m sitting here in LA still wondering what the hell “freezing fog” IS! Someone explain! 🙂
The fog freezes to stuff like your car. You can have a really thick build up.
---
### Author:  [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/16 "2010-02-10T17:11:46Z")
> [@Asimovian](#):
>
> OK, so the OP has been answered, and I’m sitting here in LA still wondering what the hell “freezing fog” IS! Someone explain! 🙂
[Here](http://thing-a-day.com/more-freezing-frog) are some photos I posted on Thing-a-Day.
The type of coating it produces is called “hoar frost,” which you almost never hear anymore. I imagine “hoar frost” has gone the way of “niggardly” and “titular” – words you don’t say because they sound dirty.
---
### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/17 "2010-02-10T17:18:16Z")
Freezing fog is not the same thing as ice fog or pogonip. Pogonip (the New England term) or ice fog (the Alaska term) is composed of small crystals of ice suspended in air. Freezing fog is like ordinary fog, made up of tiny droplets of liquid water suspended in the air. What makes it “freezing” is that when it contacts a surface (like a roadway) that is below the freezing point, it freezes, forming a thin layer of slippery ice. If it’s heavy enough, freezing fog is similar to freezing rain in its effects on traffic safety, but it doesn’t coat surfaces heavily enough to bring down power lines and tree limbs.
---
### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/18 "2010-02-10T17:29:12Z")
Detroit area. Never heard the term before, and didn’t know what it meant before now.
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/19 "2010-02-10T18:21:29Z")
> [@bibliophage](#):
>
> Freezing fog is not the same thing as ice fog or pogonip. Pogonip (the New England term) or ice fog (the Alaska term) is composed of small crystals of ice suspended in air. Freezing fog is like ordinary fog, made up of tiny droplets of liquid water suspended in the air. What makes it “freezing” is that when it contacts a surface (like a roadway) that is below the freezing point, it freezes, forming a thin layer of slippery ice. If it’s heavy enough, freezing fog is similar to freezing rain in its effects on traffic safety, but it doesn’t coat surfaces heavily enough to bring down power lines and tree limbs.
Thank you. While I am hardly a meteorological expert, I have heard many of these terms before. Thanks for pointing out the differences.
---
### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420/20 "2010-02-10T19:20:38Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#):
>
> Wisconsin
>
> It’s not a new term. 40+ years
The thing is, though, the first time I heard the term on a message board I looked it up, and the article I read about it specifically mentioned that it’s common in Wisconsin and the neighboring states. I’ve still never heard anyone mention it around here, but I don’t think it happens here, either. Never heard of a “Pogonip” either, even though it’s supposed to be a New England term.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-freezing-fog-a-relatively-new-weather-term/528420.md?page=2)