Houston, TX – Seeing plenty of smoke after a full night’s blow out of fireworks is nothing new after the Fourth of July, however, for early risers, it posed an interesting challenge getting out on the roads for the Monday commute.
Fog is nothing new in humid Houston but this morning’s fog had an added element to it. This morning’s fog clouds had a lot of help with smoke molecules to attach to, using them as what’s called a condensation nuclei.
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Smoke particles are particularly larger than usual condensation nuclei (a speck of dust for example) so that means more surface area for water vapor to attach to. So the logic goes, if you have a large quantity of particles to attach to because of the fireworks, add a lot of humditity (water vapor) and you have a reciepe for a foggy start to the day.
As you might guess, all that leftover firework smoke trapped close to the surface isn’t the best for morning air quality. We started off early this morning with an “unhealthy” air quality but with the sun heating up the air, it allowed for fresher air to mix in for the afternoon.