Foggy weather is just condensed water vapor close to the ground. To understand fog, we need to tackle humidity.
The surrounding air us can hold a certain amount of water vapor, or water in a gaseous state. Foggy weather consists of many problems. Ill health would come at the top of any list of the effects of foggy weather and smog followed by disruptions in transport services.
Fog reduces visibility, obstructs sunlight, the dankness leads to depression. But when dust and toxic particles like those of carbon monoxide and sulphur oxide from industrial and vehicular emissions remain suspended in the air, their inhalation makes heart ailments and not only compounds respiratory diseases like asthma, but also causes a range of ear-nose-throat problems including congestion and wracking coughs during the foggy season. Sometimes patients are known to suffer permanent lung tissue damage and throwing flight schedules out of gear, poor visibility in foggy conditions has been disrupting train services, stranding passengers at platforms throughout the northern region. Foggy weather intensification in recent years especially in the South and South East Asian region. It is being attributed to increase in vehicular pollution, industrial emissions, aerosols, indiscriminate burning of biomass, forest fires and bovine emissions, with growing populations and increasing density. On a larger canvas, atmospheric pollutants are contributing to climate change, through disturbances in the regional hydrological cycle and global warming. Foggy weather is detrimental to agriculture, too. Fog ultimately handicaps economic growth. Man-hours lost to delays and poor health, commuting glitches and late arrival at work, fall in tourist traffic, and fall in agricultural production tend to have a cascading effect. Add to this loss of school and college hours. Smog management and mitigating its effects is serious business; it requires effective regulation, scientific solutions and public awareness to abate smog.
