Fog all day, but not on The South Downs
This foggy view isn’t unusual over Midhurst and the Rother Valley. It’s a temperature inversion in the atmosphere. As air rises it normally gets colder, but if the temperature is only a couple of °C and there’s no breeze and clear skies, the reverse can happen and the air nearest to the ground gets stuck there – trapped under a layer of warmer air above it.
Think of the Rother Valley as an enormous bowl. The mist and fog are trapped by the hills around them, the cold air can’t rise or go sideways and there you have it – a blanket of fog less than 20 metres thick with clear, warm sky above it.
Back to today! I was working from home and found some time to run up to Bepton Down in the afternoon to grab a few photos before the sun set. That’s Midhurst in the the fog – honest! I’ve got lots more photos on Flickr.
