# What happens to fog? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 14, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-fog/585421 "2011-06-14T13:49:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-fog/585421/21 "2011-06-15T14:37:16Z")
I chose dissipate, though I’m actually not sure if that’s what the local weather media uses, it just sounds right to me. I usually either get my weather online - pictograms! - or in French. Offhand, I can’t remember the answer to this question in French either. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-fog/585421/22 "2011-06-15T14:43:17Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > I chose dissipate, though I’m actually not sure if that’s what the local weather media uses, it just sounds right to me. I usually either get my weather online - pictograms! - or in French. Offhand, I can’t remember the answer to this question in French either. Le chien a fait pipi sur moi. ---
**Author:** ![Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8baadc/32.png) [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicest_of_the_Damned)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-fog/585421/23 "2011-06-16T01:19:10Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Yeah, I don’t recall hearing anyone, meteorologists or otherwise, saying “burn ”. meteorologists say dissipate. I guess some people might say lift, but I haven’t heard that much either - mostly it just ends. Now that I think about it I probably got “lifts” from reading books. People do usually just say “the fog went away” or “it’s not foggy anymore.” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-fog/585421/24 "2011-06-16T14:26:39Z")
After discussing the poll’s results (so far) with my wife and asking her for whatever reference she might have had for that “burn through” usage, she said she was pretty sure it was in Thornton Wilder’s _Our Town_ somewhere in the first act. I have been unable to locate an online version of the play with actual lines from the play, but our copy(ies) of the play are somewhere I haven’t been able to unearth. If any of you have a copy (or can find it online) perhaps you can authenticate her recall of where to find it. The “New England” connection has to do with the locale of the play. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-fog/585421/25 "2011-06-16T16:36:40Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > That makes sense to me and my wife, but what brought this issue up enough to poll it was that a local weather person used the “burn through” version in a recent weathercast and it reminded my wife of the New England usage she had heard or read of long ago. > > I mean, how is water vapor going to “burn through” anything? I’ve done some googling for you, specifically about Maine, and _I think_ I understand your wife’s confusion now. The fog does not “burn through” but there are references to how long it will be before the sun can “burn through” the fog. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-fog/585421/26 "2011-06-16T16:46:44Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’ve done some googling for you, specifically about Maine, and _I think_ I understand your wife’s confusion now. The fog does not “burn through” but there are references to how long it will be before the sun can “burn through” the fog. Great! I’ll be sure to tell her that. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-fog/585421/27 "2011-06-16T17:22:39Z")
In LA, and I hear “burn off” more than anything, followed distantly by “dissipate” and “lift.” ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-fog/585421/28 "2011-06-16T17:44:43Z")
Personally, I would say “burn off” for fog giving way to sun; “lift” for fog giving way to clouds. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-fog/585421/29 "2011-06-16T18:11:25Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Personally, I would say “burn off” for fog giving way to sun; “lift” for fog giving way to clouds. I really like that! ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-fog/585421/30 "2011-06-16T20:10:52Z")
In Russia, fog \ you! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-fog/585421.md?page=1)