WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.620 Okay, let's just jump right into this. If you've 00:00:02.620 --> 00:00:05.440 been anywhere in the southern U .S. lately, I'm 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:07.559 talking Florida, Texas, really anywhere along 00:00:07.559 --> 00:00:10.339 the Gulf Coast and even pushing inland, you have 00:00:10.339 --> 00:00:11.839 seen it. I mean, you probably smelled it too. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:15.019 This incredibly dense persistent fog that has 00:00:15.019 --> 00:00:16.980 just been sitting on the region through late 00:00:16.980 --> 00:00:20.230 2025 and now, well, into the new year. But this 00:00:20.230 --> 00:00:22.690 isn't just a weather story anymore, is it? It's 00:00:22.690 --> 00:00:25.010 exploded into a full -blown viral health scare. 00:00:25.570 --> 00:00:28.149 We're seeing hundreds of thousands of posts online, 00:00:28.870 --> 00:00:31.670 people describing the mist as unusually thick, 00:00:31.730 --> 00:00:34.090 having a weird chemical smell, a burning smell. 00:00:34.520 --> 00:00:36.840 and they're linking it to these widespread symptoms. 00:00:37.100 --> 00:00:38.939 You know, persistent headaches, trouble breathing, 00:00:39.140 --> 00:00:41.439 just feeling sick. So the question on everyone's 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:43.740 mind is urgent. Is this some kind of toxic fog, 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:46.359 or is this just weather? Our mission today is 00:00:46.359 --> 00:00:48.520 to cut through all that noise. We're gonna move 00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:50.700 past the wild social media speculation, the bio 00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:52.880 weapons, the smart dust, all of it, and drill 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:54.520 straight into the science. We need to understand 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:57.250 what fog actually is, and more importantly, What 00:00:57.250 --> 00:00:59.329 it really does when it interacts with the atmosphere 00:00:59.329 --> 00:01:02.850 and our health. And we're going to use the rigorous 00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:05.030 atmospheric chemistry research that's been done 00:01:05.030 --> 00:01:07.329 to get there. We'll give you the scientific reality. 00:01:07.469 --> 00:01:09.810 It's the best shortcut to being truly informed. 00:01:10.890 --> 00:01:13.390 Welcome to Meteorology Matters, the podcast that 00:01:13.390 --> 00:01:16.170 dives deep into the science, chaos and stories 00:01:16.170 --> 00:01:19.090 behind the weather that shapes our world. This 00:01:19.090 --> 00:01:21.930 show is created by meteorologist Rob Jones. Now 00:01:21.930 --> 00:01:23.689 let's get into today's episode of Meteorology 00:01:23.689 --> 00:01:25.930 Matters. So just to be clear, we are specifically 00:01:25.930 --> 00:01:28.310 talking about this massive wave of dense fog 00:01:28.310 --> 00:01:30.650 that's been sweeping across so many regions starting 00:01:30.650 --> 00:01:33.829 in late 2025 and pushing right into early 2026. 00:01:34.549 --> 00:01:36.849 This feeling of dread about the air we're breathing. 00:01:37.030 --> 00:01:38.390 It feels like it's becoming an annual thing. 00:01:38.730 --> 00:01:41.829 It absolutely feels cyclical. And you know, the 00:01:41.829 --> 00:01:45.170 reason it feels like such potent deja vu is because 00:01:45.170 --> 00:01:47.650 we saw this exact same pattern of panic play 00:01:47.650 --> 00:01:50.430 out before. Heavy fog followed immediately by 00:01:50.430 --> 00:01:52.200 people reporting all these symptoms. This is 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:54.659 back at the end of 2024, right? Exactly. That 00:01:54.659 --> 00:01:57.180 earlier outbreak is actually when that term FogVid 00:01:57.180 --> 00:02:00.780 -24 got coined online, which is, frankly, a really 00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:03.019 unfortunate and misleading comparison to the 00:02:03.019 --> 00:02:06.280 pandemic. But the core issue is that the underlying 00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:08.840 meteorological conditions for this kind of fog, 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:11.840 they come back every single winter. So the fears 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:14.400 resurface with it. And the geographic spread, 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:16.360 even this time around, is just stunning. We're 00:02:16.360 --> 00:02:18.659 seeing reports from the Gulf Coast, Florida, 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:21.120 Texas, but then it stretches all the way up to 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:24.300 Pennsylvania, Minnesota. And then you see these 00:02:24.300 --> 00:02:26.419 mirrored reports popping up in the UK and Canada. 00:02:26.979 --> 00:02:28.740 So what are the common complaints we're hearing 00:02:28.740 --> 00:02:30.580 right now, the things people are tying directly 00:02:30.580 --> 00:02:33.020 to this mist? The symptoms being reported, they're 00:02:33.020 --> 00:02:34.539 certainly alarming when you read the list. I 00:02:34.539 --> 00:02:36.139 mean, they sound severe. We're talking about 00:02:36.139 --> 00:02:39.180 a persistent deep cough, severely irritated eyes, 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:42.580 really bad sore throats, fatigue, fever. were 00:02:42.580 --> 00:02:45.319 general respiratory problems, and even claims 00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:48.539 of full -blown pneumonia. When you see that list 00:02:48.539 --> 00:02:50.680 in isolation, it sounds like an environmental 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:53.460 catastrophe. But the immediate challenge, and 00:02:53.460 --> 00:02:56.400 you see it right away, is the profound overlap. 00:02:56.599 --> 00:02:59.599 with peak respiratory illness season. That's 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:01.680 the critical piece of context that just gets 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:04.060 completely lost in the social media churn. All 00:03:04.060 --> 00:03:06.360 those systemic symptoms you just listed, the 00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:09.500 fever, the body aches, the deep cough, that exhaustion, 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:12.120 they're the classic hallmarks of the seasonal 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:14.979 illnesses we see every single year. The flu, 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:18.780 COVID, RSV. Exactly. Influenza viruses, the current 00:03:18.780 --> 00:03:21.020 COVID variants, respiratory syncytial virus, 00:03:21.419 --> 00:03:23.139 all of them, scientifically and historically, 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:25.280 they spike in the late fall and early winter. 00:03:25.900 --> 00:03:28.280 That is the precise meteorological window when 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:30.300 conditions are perfect for dense fog formation. 00:03:30.759 --> 00:03:33.000 So it's this perfect seasonal convergence. People 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:35.840 are inside more. They're traveling for the holidays, 00:03:36.419 --> 00:03:39.580 spreading viruses around. that causes the systemic 00:03:39.580 --> 00:03:42.620 illness. At the exact same time, the atmosphere 00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:45.340 is creating thick fog, which might cause some 00:03:45.340 --> 00:03:48.360 local irritation. And people are, you know, logically 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:50.180 putting the two events together. And that confusion 00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:52.599 is understandable, but it's also where the danger 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:55.479 is. And then you have the sensory data, the smell 00:03:55.479 --> 00:03:58.500 that just fuels the fire. The claims about the 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:00.819 odor are incredibly specific, but they're also 00:04:00.819 --> 00:04:03.759 wildly varied, which, you know, from a scientific 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:06.080 standpoint, that's a huge clue. A clue that we're 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:08.780 not dealing with a single of deployment of some 00:04:08.780 --> 00:04:11.460 uniform chemical agent. Right. If it was one 00:04:11.460 --> 00:04:13.740 thing, a single bio weapon or some chemical, 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:16.519 the smell would likely be consistent across the 00:04:16.519 --> 00:04:19.160 entire continent, but it's not. No, instead you 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:21.759 get people describing it as like electrical fires 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:24.079 or burning plastic. I saw one that said a mix 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:26.740 of gasoline and rubber. Another said nail polish 00:04:26.740 --> 00:04:28.959 remover. The only common thread is that it just 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:31.540 feels toxic or chemical. And the moment something 00:04:31.540 --> 00:04:35.199 smells off or not normal, the mind immediately 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:37.279 jumps to some kind of external interference, 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:40.579 which leads us straight into the theories. And 00:04:40.579 --> 00:04:42.839 the theories we've seen this year, I mean, they 00:04:42.839 --> 00:04:46.000 run the whole gamut of mistrust. From targeted 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:49.319 government plots and chemical attacks. To bioweapons 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:52.339 testing, or that persistent belief in smart dust, 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:56.060 some kind of evil, invisible nanotechnology being 00:04:56.060 --> 00:04:58.199 sprayed on us. The thing that's particularly 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:00.480 strange, though, are the specific visual claims 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:02.939 that seem to take hold. especially the one about 00:05:02.939 --> 00:05:05.600 seeing particles in the fog. That visual phenomenon 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:08.519 is probably the most effective viral trigger 00:05:08.519 --> 00:05:11.040 out there. You see these videos everywhere. People 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:13.339 go outside into the mist. They shine a really 00:05:13.339 --> 00:05:15.660 strong concentrated light like a flashlight where 00:05:15.660 --> 00:05:18.019 their car's high beams. And they see movement. 00:05:18.259 --> 00:05:20.160 They see structure in the air. And they interpret 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:22.449 that as definitive proof. Definitive proof of 00:05:22.449 --> 00:05:24.750 foreign particles or drones or the smart dust 00:05:24.750 --> 00:05:27.410 itself. I mean, some videos even made these outlandish 00:05:27.410 --> 00:05:29.709 claims that the fog was killing animals all over 00:05:29.709 --> 00:05:32.769 the world, causing birds to fly erratically or 00:05:32.769 --> 00:05:35.310 schools of fish to wash up on shore. And then, 00:05:35.449 --> 00:05:37.430 to make the fear feel like it has some historical 00:05:37.430 --> 00:05:40.050 grounding, people dig up these completely irrelevant 00:05:40.050 --> 00:05:43.170 facts to build a narrative of mistrust, like 00:05:43.170 --> 00:05:45.990 that old 1916 patent for making artificial clouds. 00:05:46.410 --> 00:05:48.990 It's a textbook example of how you can weaponize 00:05:48.990 --> 00:05:52.290 old, unrelated facts to fuel modern -day mistrust. 00:05:52.730 --> 00:05:55.009 And yes, to be clear, there was a patent filed 00:05:55.009 --> 00:05:58.470 in 1916. It was for a process and apparatus for 00:05:58.470 --> 00:06:00.649 the production of intense artificial clouds, 00:06:00.990 --> 00:06:03.579 fogs, or mists. But it has nothing to do with 00:06:03.579 --> 00:06:05.319 what's happening now. Nothing at all. It was 00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:07.519 filed by a man named John H. McMillan and it 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:10.959 expired in 1937. But the moment you drop 1916 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:13.240 and artificial fog into a social media post, 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:16.540 it just feeds that narrative that they have been 00:06:16.540 --> 00:06:18.699 manipulating the weather for over a century. 00:06:19.060 --> 00:06:20.920 We really need to focus on the science of what 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:23.660 fog actually is to push back on that. OK, so 00:06:23.660 --> 00:06:26.079 let's tackle that particle myth head on, because 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:28.420 that's the main visual evidence driving so much 00:06:28.420 --> 00:06:30.740 of the panic. We need to connect that fear of 00:06:30.740 --> 00:06:34.139 foreign particles to the reality of meteorological 00:06:34.139 --> 00:06:37.009 physics. And it's actually really easy to explain 00:06:37.009 --> 00:06:40.189 with some simple physics. So by definition, fog 00:06:40.189 --> 00:06:43.750 is a shallow cloud. It's made of condensed water 00:06:43.750 --> 00:06:47.410 vapor. It is fundamentally just water. So what 00:06:47.410 --> 00:06:50.250 are people seeing with the flashlight? What you're 00:06:50.250 --> 00:06:52.449 seeing is perfectly normal light reflection. 00:06:52.750 --> 00:06:55.490 When you shine a concentrated light source into 00:06:55.490 --> 00:06:59.089 any kind of mist, the tiny water droplets reflect 00:06:59.089 --> 00:07:01.550 that light. It's a process we call backscattering. 00:07:01.889 --> 00:07:04.069 And it makes the structure of the fog visible, 00:07:04.290 --> 00:07:06.750 like beams or streams of light, the movement 00:07:06.750 --> 00:07:08.730 they see. That's just the natural movement of 00:07:08.730 --> 00:07:10.709 the air carrying those little suspended droplets. 00:07:11.089 --> 00:07:12.750 I remember seeing one expert who said he'd made 00:07:12.750 --> 00:07:15.269 similar videos at night during a controlled study 00:07:15.269 --> 00:07:18.050 just to prove this is what fog looks like under 00:07:18.050 --> 00:07:20.199 a strong light. There's nothing suspicious about 00:07:20.199 --> 00:07:22.459 the visual effect itself. Not at all. And if 00:07:22.459 --> 00:07:24.699 people are seeing some kind of residue left on 00:07:24.699 --> 00:07:27.420 surfaces, that also often has a natural explanation. 00:07:27.860 --> 00:07:29.800 For instance, if you're in a coastal area like 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:32.259 Florida, you're likely dealing with sea fog. 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:35.120 So when that fog deposits on a surface, the water 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:38.139 evaporates. And what's left behind? Microscopic 00:07:38.139 --> 00:07:40.480 sea salt particles that were inside those droplets. 00:07:40.860 --> 00:07:43.660 It leaves this natural, non -toxic residue that 00:07:43.660 --> 00:07:46.339 can easily be mistaken for something sinister. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:49.079 Okay, so we've dismissed the idea of nefarious 00:07:49.079 --> 00:07:51.920 smart dust, but we can't dismiss the idea of 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:55.160 particles entirely. Because the truth is, fog 00:07:55.160 --> 00:07:58.600 is built around particles, tiny ones. And understanding 00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:02.160 their role is... like the key to all of this. 00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:04.500 We need to move from the visual trick of the 00:08:04.500 --> 00:08:06.439 flashlight to the foundational science of how 00:08:06.439 --> 00:08:08.920 fog actually forms. That's the perfect transition, 00:08:08.980 --> 00:08:11.079 because fog isn't some mysterious substance. 00:08:11.180 --> 00:08:13.660 It's just a phase change of water, and it's driven 00:08:13.660 --> 00:08:17.060 by really simple atmospheric physics. You need 00:08:17.060 --> 00:08:19.620 three core ingredients for natural fog to form, 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:22.480 especially the dense persistent kind. First, 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:25.060 you absolutely have to have abundant water vapor. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:27.379 That means the air needs to have extremely high 00:08:27.379 --> 00:08:29.980 humidity. If the air isn't saturated or at least 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:31.980 near saturated, you just can't get persistent 00:08:31.980 --> 00:08:35.220 fog. Second, you need cooling. The air mass has 00:08:35.220 --> 00:08:37.580 to cool down to its dew point. And the dew point 00:08:37.580 --> 00:08:39.980 is that specific temperature where the air becomes 00:08:39.980 --> 00:08:42.960 completely saturated, 100 % relative humidity, 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:45.620 and water has to start condensing out of the 00:08:45.620 --> 00:08:47.799 vapor phase and into a liquid. And that leads 00:08:47.799 --> 00:08:49.600 to the third ingredient, which is the one that 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:51.279 ultimately connects back to the pollution risk 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:54.259 we're going to talk about, the aerosols. Precisely. 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:57.480 Aerosols are just small suspended particles in 00:08:57.480 --> 00:08:59.919 the atmosphere. They can be totally natural things 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:03.740 like dust, pollen, sea salt, or they can be human 00:09:03.740 --> 00:09:06.539 made like soot and sulfur compounds from burning 00:09:06.539 --> 00:09:09.850 fossil fuels. And these particles act as... Like 00:09:09.850 --> 00:09:12.210 a scaffold. That's a great way to put it. They're 00:09:12.210 --> 00:09:14.730 essential structural supports. In meteorology, 00:09:14.850 --> 00:09:18.009 we call them cloud condensation nuclei, or CCN. 00:09:18.529 --> 00:09:21.309 The water vapor needs a surface to condense onto. 00:09:21.850 --> 00:09:24.169 Without these CCN, the water vapor really struggles 00:09:24.169 --> 00:09:26.490 to condense at all. It would need extremely high 00:09:26.490 --> 00:09:28.389 supersaturation, which is pretty rare in the 00:09:28.389 --> 00:09:30.610 atmosphere. So the CCN are the structural link 00:09:30.610 --> 00:09:33.450 between the natural world and the eventual pollution 00:09:33.450 --> 00:09:35.789 problem we'll get into. They're a non -negotiable 00:09:35.789 --> 00:09:38.090 part of the recipe. They are the foundation. 00:09:38.629 --> 00:09:41.350 Now why do we see this so consistently in the 00:09:41.350 --> 00:09:43.850 winter? It's that combination of conditions. 00:09:43.909 --> 00:09:46.549 You get rapid cooling and you have a consistent 00:09:46.549 --> 00:09:49.009 presence of abundant moisture, especially in 00:09:49.009 --> 00:09:51.389 certain parts of the country. We can even classify 00:09:51.389 --> 00:09:53.730 the fog by how it cools. If you look at the Gulf 00:09:53.730 --> 00:09:56.370 Coast states, they often get what's called advection 00:09:56.370 --> 00:09:59.289 fog. Advection just means horizontal movement. 00:09:59.490 --> 00:10:01.789 So air moving from one place to another. Exactly. 00:10:01.950 --> 00:10:04.230 The air moving off the Gulf of Mexico is typically 00:10:04.230 --> 00:10:08.259 warm and extremely moist. When that warm saturated 00:10:08.259 --> 00:10:11.519 air moves or advects over a much colder land 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:14.620 surface or even colder water, the bottom layer 00:10:14.620 --> 00:10:17.779 cools down to its dew point really fast. That 00:10:17.779 --> 00:10:20.679 forms that thick sea fog that then moves on shore. 00:10:20.980 --> 00:10:23.559 It's incredibly common in Florida and Texas from 00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:25.840 late fall all the way to early spring. Okay, 00:10:26.059 --> 00:10:28.460 that explains the coastal areas. But what about 00:10:28.460 --> 00:10:30.779 inland places like valleys or plains where there 00:10:30.779 --> 00:10:32.980 isn't a warm ocean nearby? That's where you get 00:10:32.980 --> 00:10:36.090 radiation fog. And it's driven by nocturnal cooling. 00:10:36.450 --> 00:10:40.169 This usually forms on clear, calm nights. The 00:10:40.169 --> 00:10:42.950 Earth's surface cools down very quickly by radiating 00:10:42.950 --> 00:10:45.669 its heat upward into space. The air right above 00:10:45.669 --> 00:10:47.990 the ground then cools down by coming into contact 00:10:47.990 --> 00:10:50.470 with that cold surface until it hits saturation. 00:10:50.870 --> 00:10:53.370 And that explains why you always see it settling 00:10:53.370 --> 00:10:55.809 in the lowest spots first, in the valleys and 00:10:55.809 --> 00:10:58.679 low -lying areas. It's a result of density. Cold 00:10:58.679 --> 00:11:01.299 air is denser than warm air, so it sinks because 00:11:01.299 --> 00:11:04.740 of gravity. It pools in those topographic depressions 00:11:04.740 --> 00:11:07.059 and river valleys, which allows that cooling 00:11:07.059 --> 00:11:09.840 and condensation process to really concentrate 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:11.720 the moisture near the ground. And you need the 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:13.940 wind to be just right, don't you? You do. For 00:11:13.940 --> 00:11:16.600 any fog to persist, you need a very specific 00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:18.799 wind regime, usually very light winds, maybe 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:21.399 one to three meters per second, just enough to 00:11:21.399 --> 00:11:24.240 gently mix that cooling layer of air. If the 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:26.980 wind picks up too much, The fog just mixes with 00:11:26.980 --> 00:11:29.580 the drier air above it and evaporates. Gone. 00:11:29.899 --> 00:11:32.139 So we're dealing with water droplets. We should 00:11:32.139 --> 00:11:34.340 talk about their physical makeup, because that 00:11:34.340 --> 00:11:36.679 determines how fog interacts with everything, 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:39.559 including our bodies. You mentioned before how 00:11:39.559 --> 00:11:42.820 small they are compared to, say, rain clouds. 00:11:43.059 --> 00:11:45.779 The size difference is profound, and it really 00:11:45.779 --> 00:11:47.679 influences how it feels on your skin, how it 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:50.960 just hangs in the air. Fog droplets are tiny, 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:54.220 typically below 100 micrometers. That's way in 00:11:54.220 --> 00:11:56.779 diameter. And to give people some scale, a typical 00:11:56.779 --> 00:11:59.500 human hair is about 100 micrometers thick. Right. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:02.279 So a single fog droplet is smaller than the width 00:12:02.279 --> 00:12:04.500 of your hair. Now contrast that with a large 00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:06.460 raindrop, which can be up to six millimeters 00:12:06.460 --> 00:12:09.639 in diameter. That small size is the key to keeping 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:12.840 fog suspended, dense, and opaque right at the 00:12:12.840 --> 00:12:14.980 level where we're breathing. And the phase state 00:12:14.980 --> 00:12:16.840 is fascinating, especially when we talk about 00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:19.159 really cold winter weather. You said that the 00:12:19.159 --> 00:12:21.340 liquid state can persist even when it's below 00:12:21.340 --> 00:12:23.820 freezing. Yes, and that leads us to classify 00:12:23.820 --> 00:12:27.620 fogs as either wet fogs or ice fogs. A wet fog 00:12:27.620 --> 00:12:30.440 is liquid water, but that liquid can be what 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:33.379 we call super -cooled. Depending on how pure 00:12:33.379 --> 00:12:35.740 the water is and the absence of freezing nuclei, 00:12:36.139 --> 00:12:38.679 Water droplets can stay liquid all the way down 00:12:38.679 --> 00:12:41.940 to about negative 12 degrees Celsius. Wow. Yeah. 00:12:42.220 --> 00:12:44.220 And below that, especially if you get down near 00:12:44.220 --> 00:12:46.700 negative 30 Celsius, then we start talking about 00:12:46.700 --> 00:12:49.940 ice fogs, which are made of tiny suspended hexagonal 00:12:49.940 --> 00:12:52.120 ice crystals. So it's totally possible to be 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:54.679 outside breathing in liquid water, even if the 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:56.820 thermometer says it's well below freezing. And 00:12:56.820 --> 00:12:59.379 that distinction must matter because the physics 00:12:59.379 --> 00:13:02.000 of how liquid water processes pollutants, which 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:04.179 we are definitely going to get to, has to be 00:13:04.179 --> 00:13:06.519 different from ice crystal chemistry. It matters 00:13:06.519 --> 00:13:09.720 tremendously. The presence of impurities or even 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:12.519 just the concentration of water vapor can dictate 00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:15.039 the surface tension of that water -air interface. 00:13:15.559 --> 00:13:18.580 And that, surprisingly, also influences the exact 00:13:18.580 --> 00:13:21.700 freezing point of the droplets. But the main 00:13:21.700 --> 00:13:24.320 takeaway here is that when people see this dense, 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:27.480 persistent white curtain, what they are interacting 00:13:27.480 --> 00:13:30.700 with are billions of micro -sized water droplets. 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:34.220 It's not some exotic chemical compound. Unless. 00:13:34.379 --> 00:13:36.059 Unless those droplets have captured something 00:13:36.059 --> 00:13:38.179 from a polluted atmosphere. Exactly. Okay, so 00:13:38.179 --> 00:13:41.259 we've established fog is water built on tiny 00:13:41.259 --> 00:13:44.740 particles. Now for the central fear. Can this 00:13:44.740 --> 00:13:47.500 natural water cloud act as a vector? Can the 00:13:47.500 --> 00:13:50.139 fog itself deliver the flu or COVID -19 or some 00:13:50.139 --> 00:13:52.419 bacterial infection to you? And in doing so, 00:13:52.860 --> 00:13:54.659 validate those systemic symptoms people reporting. 00:13:54.909 --> 00:13:57.169 We have to separate the physics of water from 00:13:57.169 --> 00:14:00.149 the biology of pathogens. And the answer, based 00:14:00.149 --> 00:14:02.210 on all the biological and meteorological research 00:14:02.210 --> 00:14:05.070 we have, is a definitive and unequivocal no when 00:14:05.070 --> 00:14:06.809 it comes to infectious disease transmission. 00:14:06.889 --> 00:14:09.289 So why is that physically impossible for ordinary 00:14:09.289 --> 00:14:12.539 natural fog? Well, fog is just condensed atmospheric 00:14:12.539 --> 00:14:16.379 moisture. There is no known biological or physiological 00:14:16.379 --> 00:14:19.259 mechanism by which ordinary fog can sustain and 00:14:19.259 --> 00:14:21.919 then spread contagious pathogens like influenza 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:24.679 viruses, coronaviruses, or RSV efficiently from 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:27.379 one person to another or from the fog to a person. 00:14:27.399 --> 00:14:29.019 It just doesn't work that way. The pathogens 00:14:29.019 --> 00:14:30.980 can't survive in that environment. They can't. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:33.600 Viruses and bacteria, they require very specific 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:35.659 environmental conditions to survive and remain 00:14:35.659 --> 00:14:38.340 infectious. Often, that's a mucous membrane in 00:14:38.340 --> 00:14:40.730 a host, a specific type temperature range, or 00:14:40.730 --> 00:14:43.750 being in a viable aerosolized droplet size, which 00:14:43.750 --> 00:14:46.690 is typically much, much smaller than a fog droplet. 00:14:47.090 --> 00:14:49.590 And the relatively large size of fog droplets, 00:14:49.590 --> 00:14:51.669 you know, being up to 100 micrometers, means 00:14:51.669 --> 00:14:53.610 they deposit on surfaces pretty quickly, they 00:14:53.610 --> 00:14:56.070 fall out of the air, unlike those ultrafine aerosols 00:14:56.070 --> 00:14:58.809 that can hang around for hours. Furthermore, 00:14:58.950 --> 00:15:00.769 the conditions inside the droplet, which are 00:15:00.769 --> 00:15:03.230 often slightly acidic due to natural or human 00:15:03.230 --> 00:15:05.850 -made gases, are just not friendly to maintaining 00:15:05.850 --> 00:15:08.509 the viability of human respiratory viruses or 00:15:08.509 --> 00:15:10.850 bacteria. over the long distances and time needed 00:15:10.850 --> 00:15:15.960 for widespread transmission. Labs testing the 00:15:15.960 --> 00:15:18.720 fog and finding viable pathogenic bacteria or 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:21.659 parasites. We're simply unsubstantiated by mainstream 00:15:21.659 --> 00:15:24.600 science. It's a critical distinction. Fog is 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:27.340 not a chemical weapon delivery system or a pathogen 00:15:27.340 --> 00:15:29.899 delivery system just because it's dense. But 00:15:29.899 --> 00:15:31.799 you mentioned we shouldn't dismiss the entire 00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:34.460 symptomatic experience. Absolutely not. While 00:15:34.460 --> 00:15:37.039 FIG cannot infect you with a virus, it can make 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:39.799 you feel genuinely unwell through physical irritation. 00:15:40.299 --> 00:15:42.740 And this real effect is very easily confused 00:15:42.740 --> 00:15:45.720 with the onset of a contagious illness. OK, let's 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:49.360 unpack that. What is the measurable, non -nefarious 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.360 physiological effect of just breathing in thick, 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:55.379 cold, moist fog? The physical act of inhaling 00:15:55.379 --> 00:15:57.700 air that is 100 % saturated with water vapor 00:15:57.700 --> 00:16:00.340 and is often much colder than our core body temperature 00:16:00.340 --> 00:16:02.840 has a measurable impact on the human respiratory 00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:05.799 tract. It's known to cause mild respiratory irritation. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:09.000 The cold, wet air causes a sudden temperature 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:11.299 change and moisture overload in your airways. 00:16:11.740 --> 00:16:13.419 And what are the specific symptoms that come 00:16:13.419 --> 00:16:15.899 just from that pure moisture inhalation? Well, 00:16:15.980 --> 00:16:18.080 it can include triggering a cough reflex because 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:20.580 your airways are irritated. It can cause changes 00:16:20.580 --> 00:16:23.139 in your breathing patterns. And specifically, 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:25.940 it can lead to inflammation within the sinuses. 00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:28.080 Ah, so that's where the headache comes from. 00:16:28.139 --> 00:16:29.919 That's where the headache comes from. That sinus 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:32.820 inflammation is a real physical response to an 00:16:32.820 --> 00:16:35.519 environmental stressor. It often shows up as 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:38.639 pressure, congestion, and yeah, a resulting headache. 00:16:39.080 --> 00:16:41.480 You feel genuinely uncomfortable, which leads 00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:44.120 people to think, oh, I must be catching something. 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:47.299 And this non -infectious irritation is particularly 00:16:47.299 --> 00:16:50.620 noticeable in vulnerable populations. For instance, 00:16:51.080 --> 00:16:52.679 studies have shown that for people with underlying 00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:54.620 conditions, especially children with asthma, 00:16:55.100 --> 00:16:58.279 inhaling highly moist, cold air can induce mild 00:16:58.279 --> 00:17:00.980 bronchoconstrictive effects. Meaning their airways 00:17:00.980 --> 00:17:03.179 tighten up a bit. Exactly. The airways tighten 00:17:03.179 --> 00:17:05.619 slightly. This can lead to increased respiratory 00:17:05.619 --> 00:17:08.359 symptoms or in some cases even trigger nocturnal 00:17:08.359 --> 00:17:10.940 asthma attacks. So if someone walks outside into 00:17:10.940 --> 00:17:13.559 this persistent, dense fog and within a few minutes 00:17:13.559 --> 00:17:15.660 they feel a cough coming on in that sinus pressure 00:17:15.660 --> 00:17:18.880 building, that is a legitimate physical response 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:21.980 to the It's not in their head. It's just their 00:17:21.980 --> 00:17:24.019 respiratory system reacting to the temperature 00:17:24.019 --> 00:17:26.900 and moisture load. Precisely. It is a response 00:17:26.900 --> 00:17:29.559 to environmental conditions, not to an infection. 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:34.160 And as we discussed, this mild localized respiratory 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:36.940 discomfort is then easily misinterpreted and 00:17:36.940 --> 00:17:39.599 compounded with the systemic symptoms, the fever, 00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:41.900 the body aches, the exhaustion, that are actually 00:17:41.900 --> 00:17:43.819 being caused by the seasonal spike of viruses 00:17:43.819 --> 00:17:46.279 that are already circulating. The fog didn't 00:17:46.279 --> 00:17:48.740 give you the fever, it just irritated your lungs 00:17:48.740 --> 00:17:50.700 and sinuses while you were already fighting off 00:17:50.700 --> 00:17:53.420 the flu. Now, to give some context to how deep 00:17:53.420 --> 00:17:56.140 these public fears run, we do have to touch on 00:17:56.140 --> 00:17:58.700 the historical precedent that is constantly used. 00:17:58.859 --> 00:18:01.740 to fuel the bioweapon claims. It gets cited all 00:18:01.740 --> 00:18:04.180 the time to sow maximum mistrust. That historical 00:18:04.180 --> 00:18:06.519 context is essential, you're right. We can't 00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:08.839 forget that the U .S. military did conduct extensive 00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:11.519 experiments using artificial fog dispersal over 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:14.160 American cities, like San Francisco, between 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:17.660 1949 and 1969. What was the purpose of those 00:18:17.660 --> 00:18:20.559 tests, and what exactly did they disperse using 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:23.440 that fog? They were simulating germ warfare attacks 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:25.519 to understand how things spread in the atmosphere. 00:18:25.900 --> 00:18:28.519 They used an artificial fog to disperse bacteria, 00:18:28.900 --> 00:18:31.740 specifically a species called serratia marcescens. 00:18:31.900 --> 00:18:33.740 And they thought this was harmless at the time. 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:35.960 At the time they believed serratia was harmless, 00:18:35.980 --> 00:18:39.579 yes. We now know it can be an opportunistic pathogen. 00:18:39.900 --> 00:18:42.480 But essentially they created a large artificial 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:45.960 aerosol cloud and then monitored how widely and 00:18:45.960 --> 00:18:48.519 how effectively it spread over a major city. 00:18:48.700 --> 00:18:50.720 And the results of that research were alarming. 00:18:50.910 --> 00:18:53.569 even if no harm was intended. They calculated 00:18:53.569 --> 00:18:55.490 that pretty much every person in San Francisco 00:18:55.490 --> 00:18:58.069 who was exposed to that cloud just by breathing 00:18:58.069 --> 00:19:00.569 normally could have inhaled thousands of those 00:19:00.569 --> 00:19:03.329 bacterial particles every minute for hours. That 00:19:03.329 --> 00:19:05.930 historical reality is undeniable and it explains 00:19:05.930 --> 00:19:08.589 why these fears of airborne dispersal resurface 00:19:08.589 --> 00:19:11.509 so easily. However, and this is the most important 00:19:11.509 --> 00:19:13.670 point, we have to stress that while that event 00:19:13.670 --> 00:19:16.910 happened, there is zero evidence that the natural 00:19:16.910 --> 00:19:21.049 widespread fog events of late 2025 and 2026 are 00:19:21.049 --> 00:19:23.390 related to any current government testing or 00:19:23.390 --> 00:19:26.230 intentional deployment of pathogens. The phenomenon 00:19:26.230 --> 00:19:29.529 we're seeing today is pure meteorology. but it's 00:19:29.529 --> 00:19:32.410 meteorology in a polluted world. Okay, that brings 00:19:32.410 --> 00:19:34.869 us to the absolute core of the real threat. If 00:19:34.869 --> 00:19:37.670 the danger isn't intentional deployment, we need 00:19:37.670 --> 00:19:40.609 to shift our focus entirely to the one area where 00:19:40.609 --> 00:19:43.910 fog and chemical risk are profoundly and dangerously 00:19:43.910 --> 00:19:46.190 connected. Pollution. This is the legitimate 00:19:46.190 --> 00:19:47.970 chemical hazard that people should be focusing 00:19:47.970 --> 00:19:50.440 their concern on. This is the critical turning 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:52.880 point in understanding the real hazard of dense 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:56.079 persistent fog. The true danger is that naturally 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:58.700 occurring fog acts as an incredible incubator, 00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:01.660 a concentrator, and an amplifier for human -created 00:20:01.660 --> 00:20:03.599 pollution. So let's break down the mechanics 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:05.960 of that. You called fog droplets scavengers earlier. 00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:08.039 How effective are they at actually collecting 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:10.130 pollutants from the air? They are ruthlessly 00:20:10.130 --> 00:20:13.410 efficient. Fog droplets act like tiny atmospheric 00:20:13.410 --> 00:20:16.549 sponges. They actively collect and literally 00:20:16.549 --> 00:20:19.390 wash out primary air pollutants and secondary 00:20:19.390 --> 00:20:21.589 chemical species from the atmospheric boundary 00:20:21.589 --> 00:20:23.869 layer that's the air closest to the ground where 00:20:23.869 --> 00:20:25.869 we live and breathe. So anything that's airborne 00:20:25.869 --> 00:20:28.640 gets trapped? Pretty much. Industrial emissions, 00:20:28.920 --> 00:20:32.019 vehicle exhaust, sea salt, certain organic compounds, 00:20:32.700 --> 00:20:34.900 anything that can dissolve in water or attach 00:20:34.900 --> 00:20:37.279 to one of those cloud condensation nuclei gets 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:39.700 trapped inside the water droplet. And this scavenging 00:20:39.700 --> 00:20:42.380 effect is precisely what's intensifying those 00:20:42.380 --> 00:20:44.279 strange smells people are reporting. Exactly. 00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:46.960 Fog itself does not have a smell. But when it 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:49.519 tracks pollution, it concentrates the chemical 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:52.519 molecules responsible for odors in this highly 00:20:52.519 --> 00:20:55.500 confined layer near the ground. It takes ambient 00:20:55.500 --> 00:20:57.380 smells that might already be there, like from 00:20:57.380 --> 00:21:00.500 smoke or sulfur compounds or exhaust, and it 00:21:00.500 --> 00:21:02.559 intensifies them dramatically. That's why people 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.859 report a chemical or burning smell. It's concentrated 00:21:05.859 --> 00:21:08.539 ambient air pollution delivered directly to your 00:21:08.539 --> 00:21:10.859 nose. This relationship is so well known that 00:21:10.859 --> 00:21:13.160 it's what gave us the term smog in the first 00:21:13.160 --> 00:21:16.609 place. The term smog smoke plus fog. exists because 00:21:16.609 --> 00:21:19.009 of catastrophic events like the Great Smog of 00:21:19.009 --> 00:21:22.789 London in 1952. In that case, you had stagnant 00:21:22.789 --> 00:21:25.109 air and cold weather that trapped massive amounts 00:21:25.109 --> 00:21:28.269 of pollution from burning coal. The fog physically 00:21:28.269 --> 00:21:31.029 held that pollution, primarily sulfur dioxide, 00:21:31.490 --> 00:21:33.250 which then dissolved into the water droplets. 00:21:33.769 --> 00:21:36.549 The result was highly acidic, chemically saturated 00:21:36.549 --> 00:21:39.329 water droplets in the air. And the outcome was 00:21:39.329 --> 00:21:42.130 a public health disaster. It illustrates the 00:21:42.130 --> 00:21:44.670 true hazard when fog and high pollution combine. 00:21:44.750 --> 00:21:47.549 It proved deadly, leading to thousands of acute 00:21:47.549 --> 00:21:49.609 illnesses and deaths from respiratory failure 00:21:49.609 --> 00:21:52.470 in just a few days. The lesson is undeniable. 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:55.019 When natural fog happens in a place where pollution 00:21:55.019 --> 00:21:57.579 is rampant, it stops being just water and becomes 00:21:57.579 --> 00:22:00.119 a concentrated chemical delivery system. And 00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:01.460 this is where it gets really fascinating when 00:22:01.460 --> 00:22:03.720 you dive into the actual atmospheric chemistry 00:22:03.720 --> 00:22:06.539 research. Studies suggest fog doesn't just passively 00:22:06.539 --> 00:22:08.980 collect pollution, it actively changes it chemically, 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:11.019 potentially making it even more harmful than 00:22:11.019 --> 00:22:13.160 the original ingredients. This is the advanced 00:22:13.160 --> 00:22:15.339 concept of fog processing, and it completely 00:22:15.339 --> 00:22:17.460 changes how we should think about air quality. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:20.640 Research has consistently shown that the atmospheric 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:23.140 processing that occurs within the liquid phase 00:22:23.140 --> 00:22:26.160 of the fog droplets can significantly alter the 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:28.619 toxicity and chemical properties of airborne 00:22:28.619 --> 00:22:31.460 particulate matter, what we call PM. So how does 00:22:31.460 --> 00:22:34.099 that chemical alteration happen inside a tiny 00:22:34.099 --> 00:22:36.519 water droplet, and how can you even measure the 00:22:36.519 --> 00:22:39.460 toxicity? We often measure toxicity using a proxy 00:22:39.460 --> 00:22:42.480 called reactive oxygen species activity, or ROS 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:45.680 activity. ROS are highly reactive molecules and 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:47.980 free radicals, things like superoxide, hydroxyl 00:22:47.980 --> 00:22:50.099 radicals, hydrogen peroxide, and they're known 00:22:50.099 --> 00:22:54.869 to damage human cells, DNA, proteins. So, high 00:22:54.869 --> 00:22:57.490 ROS activity in something you inhale is a direct 00:22:57.490 --> 00:22:59.829 scientific indicator of high toxicity and health 00:22:59.829 --> 00:23:02.410 risk. Now, in a detailed study done in places 00:23:02.410 --> 00:23:04.750 with frequent persistent fogs like the Po Valley 00:23:04.750 --> 00:23:07.130 in Italy, researchers compared the intrinsic 00:23:07.130 --> 00:23:09.569 ROS activity of a particulate matter before the 00:23:09.569 --> 00:23:12.369 fog formed to the ROS activity they found inside 00:23:12.369 --> 00:23:14.710 the liquid fog droplets after condensation. And 00:23:14.710 --> 00:23:16.609 they found the fog wasn't just concentrating 00:23:16.609 --> 00:23:19.009 the toxicity, it was actually amplifying it. 00:23:19.069 --> 00:23:21.890 That is the precise conclusion. They found that 00:23:21.890 --> 00:23:24.700 the intrinsic ROS activity of the fog droplets 00:23:24.700 --> 00:23:27.579 was significantly greater, in some cases more 00:23:27.579 --> 00:23:30.599 than 2 .5 times higher than the particulate matter 00:23:30.599 --> 00:23:33.400 the droplets had originally formed on. That is 00:23:33.400 --> 00:23:36.019 genuinely astonishing. It means the water solution 00:23:36.019 --> 00:23:39.039 you end up breathing in is actively more toxic 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:41.160 than the particles that seeded it in the first 00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:43.980 place. Can you explain the mechanics of how the 00:23:43.980 --> 00:23:46.200 fog does that? How does it amplify the chemistry? 00:23:46.619 --> 00:23:49.859 The water droplets are acting as tiny microreactors. 00:23:49.980 --> 00:23:52.220 This is the aqueous phase formation process. 00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:55.299 Toxic redox active compounds, materials that 00:23:55.299 --> 00:23:57.420 can participate in reduction oxidation reactions 00:23:57.420 --> 00:23:59.900 are not only scavenged from the air, they're 00:23:59.900 --> 00:24:02.059 actively produced or enhanced within the droplets 00:24:02.059 --> 00:24:04.839 through chemical reactions. So when things dissolve 00:24:04.839 --> 00:24:08.059 in the water, new reactions start. Exactly. When 00:24:08.059 --> 00:24:10.259 scavenged materials like certain transition metals 00:24:10.259 --> 00:24:12.480 or what's called water -soluble organic carbon, 00:24:12.680 --> 00:24:15.619 WSOC, dissolve into the water, they get exposed 00:24:15.619 --> 00:24:18.539 to sunlight and atmospheric oxidants. This kicks 00:24:18.539 --> 00:24:21.200 off catalytic reactions that continuously generate 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:23.400 these highly damaging reactive oxygen species. 00:24:23.579 --> 00:24:26.400 So the water itself is a medium for a new chemical 00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:28.980 process that creates additional harmful agents. 00:24:29.539 --> 00:24:32.220 It's almost like a slow cook for pollution. That's 00:24:32.220 --> 00:24:35.359 a perfect analogy. The fog water processes these 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:38.099 scavenged materials, including secondary inorganic 00:24:38.099 --> 00:24:40.940 ions. The result is that when the fog eventually 00:24:40.940 --> 00:24:44.279 evaporates, the leftover airborne PM is chemically 00:24:44.279 --> 00:24:46.900 altered, it's often denser, and it carries a 00:24:46.900 --> 00:24:49.539 higher toxic load than the original dry particle 00:24:49.539 --> 00:24:52.079 did. That makes it potentially more harmful for 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:54.519 inhalation later on. And we see this aqueous 00:24:54.519 --> 00:24:56.779 phase formation confirmed in other studies too, 00:24:56.900 --> 00:24:58.759 right? Particularly with complex organic matter. 00:24:59.019 --> 00:25:01.680 Absolutely. Research on fog events in Big cities 00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:04.099 like London showed that the fog triggers the 00:25:04.099 --> 00:25:06.859 real -time formation of secondary aerosols inside 00:25:06.859 --> 00:25:09.799 the liquid phase of the droplets. Two key examples 00:25:09.799 --> 00:25:12.259 are nitrate aerosol and a group of compounds 00:25:12.259 --> 00:25:15.240 called humic -like substances, or HULUS. Let's 00:25:15.240 --> 00:25:17.400 define HULUS for the listener. What are they 00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:20.059 and why are they an important indicator? Heuless 00:25:20.059 --> 00:25:23.200 are complex, brownish, high molecular weight 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:25.960 organic compounds. They're a critical indicator 00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:29.539 of secondary organic aerosol formation. The fact 00:25:29.539 --> 00:25:31.539 that heuless are forming in the liquid phase 00:25:31.539 --> 00:25:34.440 of the fog, not just being collected passively, 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:36.880 proves that the fog environment is highly chemically 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:39.799 reactive. It's actively synthesizing complex 00:25:39.799 --> 00:25:41.980 new pollutants that were not present in the same 00:25:41.980 --> 00:25:44.319 form before the fog showed up. So let's talk 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:46.420 about a really specific, tangible consequence 00:25:46.420 --> 00:25:49.539 of this scavenging. Acid fog. and the direct 00:25:49.539 --> 00:25:51.480 health impacts that have been studied in controlled 00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:54.500 clinical settings. Acid fog is a common and dangerous 00:25:54.500 --> 00:25:57.740 result of severe pollution scavenging. Air pollutants 00:25:57.740 --> 00:26:00.559 like nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, sulfuric 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:03.559 acid, that's HESSOFA, and nitric acid, HNOs, 00:26:03.740 --> 00:26:06.599 are all highly water -soluble. They readily dissolve 00:26:06.599 --> 00:26:08.779 into fog droplets, which dramatically lowers 00:26:08.779 --> 00:26:11.539 the pH and creates acid fog. And we have research 00:26:11.539 --> 00:26:13.799 from controlled exposure studies where scientists 00:26:13.799 --> 00:26:15.880 have seen exactly what happens when people breathe 00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:18.750 this acidic aerosol under foggy conditions. Yes. 00:26:19.329 --> 00:26:21.910 In these controlled studies, they took both healthy 00:26:21.910 --> 00:26:25.069 volunteers and asthmatic subjects and exposed 00:26:25.069 --> 00:26:28.500 them to sulfuric acid aerosols. The goal was 00:26:28.500 --> 00:26:31.160 to see the acute health impacts at concentrations 00:26:31.160 --> 00:26:33.900 you might realistically find in a polluted urban 00:26:33.900 --> 00:26:36.900 fog. And what did they find in terms of immediate 00:26:36.900 --> 00:26:39.079 health effects? Well, they found that while there 00:26:39.079 --> 00:26:41.460 were generally no marked effects on overall lung 00:26:41.460 --> 00:26:43.660 function, the technical measurements were stable. 00:26:43.779 --> 00:26:46.140 Both the normal and the asthmatic subjects showed 00:26:46.140 --> 00:26:48.819 a statistically significant dose -related increase 00:26:48.819 --> 00:26:51.420 in respiratory symptoms. So the irritation, the 00:26:51.420 --> 00:26:53.619 cough, the tightness in the chest, that general 00:26:53.619 --> 00:26:56.359 respiratory discomfort, that is a quantifiable 00:26:56.359 --> 00:26:58.890 medical reality caused by the pollution, even 00:26:58.890 --> 00:27:00.549 if the lungs are still functioning okay under 00:27:00.549 --> 00:27:03.509 the stress. Exactly. And the density and size 00:27:03.509 --> 00:27:06.990 of the fog droplets influences where that inhaled 00:27:06.990 --> 00:27:10.369 acid deposits in your respiratory tract. Dense 00:27:10.369 --> 00:27:12.750 fog droplets, which are around 10 micrometers, 00:27:13.069 --> 00:27:15.089 they tend to deposit in the large airways and 00:27:15.089 --> 00:27:17.890 upper respiratory tract. That irritates the bronchi 00:27:17.890 --> 00:27:20.710 and leads to that cough and inflammation. And 00:27:20.710 --> 00:27:23.809 critically, acid fog exposure is strongly associated 00:27:23.809 --> 00:27:25.890 with making asthma symptoms worse, especially 00:27:25.869 --> 00:27:28.369 and non -atopic asthmatics who are more sensitive 00:27:28.369 --> 00:27:30.930 to environmental triggers. Beyond the acidic 00:27:30.930 --> 00:27:33.789 components, what about other serious human -made 00:27:33.789 --> 00:27:37.029 chemical toxins? I think you mentioned one specific 00:27:37.029 --> 00:27:39.250 carcinogen that's been measured at alarming levels 00:27:39.250 --> 00:27:41.730 in fog water. One of the most concerning examples 00:27:41.730 --> 00:27:45.849 is N -nitrosodamethylamine or NDMA. NDMA is classified 00:27:45.849 --> 00:27:48.390 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer 00:27:48.390 --> 00:27:51.690 as a potent human carcinogen. And research has 00:27:51.690 --> 00:27:54.430 consistently measured NDMA at substantial concentrations 00:27:54.430 --> 00:27:57.380 in fogs clouds, particularly those that form 00:27:57.380 --> 00:27:59.859 near industrial sources or facilities like sewage 00:27:59.859 --> 00:28:02.359 treatment plants. When you say substantial concentrations, 00:28:02.440 --> 00:28:04.680 can you give us a scale? Concentrations have 00:28:04.680 --> 00:28:07.400 been measured up to nearly 400 nanograms per 00:28:07.400 --> 00:28:10.619 liter in fog water. And while the exact long 00:28:10.619 --> 00:28:12.779 -term health implications of breathing in fog 00:28:12.779 --> 00:28:15.000 with that concentration are still being researched, 00:28:15.400 --> 00:28:18.200 the fact that a known potent carcinogen is being 00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:20.900 efficiently scavenged, concentrated, and deposited 00:28:20.900 --> 00:28:23.339 right at breathing level by a natural weather 00:28:23.339 --> 00:28:26.339 event Well, it highlights a very serious human 00:28:26.339 --> 00:28:28.680 -made contamination problem in our industrialized 00:28:28.680 --> 00:28:32.819 areas. So fog, then, is not some nefarious weapon 00:28:32.819 --> 00:28:36.200 delivery system. But it is an incredibly efficient 00:28:36.200 --> 00:28:38.380 mechanism for transporting these human -made 00:28:38.380 --> 00:28:40.859 pollutants and exposing us to them, especially 00:28:40.859 --> 00:28:43.359 in urban and industrial areas. That's the summary 00:28:43.359 --> 00:28:45.730 of the real threat. Fog highlights the immediate 00:28:45.730 --> 00:28:48.390 consequences of poor air quality. The composition 00:28:48.390 --> 00:28:50.509 of fog demonstrates that air pollutants, whether 00:28:50.509 --> 00:28:52.789 they're organic compounds, heavy metals, or acid 00:28:52.789 --> 00:28:55.750 components, are efficiently concentrated, transported, 00:28:55.930 --> 00:28:58.690 and deposited, impacting our air quality, our 00:28:58.690 --> 00:29:00.829 ecosystems, and our health. And that knowledge 00:29:00.829 --> 00:29:03.269 should shift the entire focus towards stringent 00:29:03.269 --> 00:29:05.269 pollution control. So let's bring it all back 00:29:05.269 --> 00:29:07.940 home for everyone listening. The widespread fear 00:29:07.940 --> 00:29:12.279 of toxic fog deployed by some secret entity in 00:29:12.279 --> 00:29:17.099 late 2025 and early 2026 is misplaced. The symptoms 00:29:17.099 --> 00:29:18.920 that mirror the flu are almost certainly just 00:29:18.920 --> 00:29:20.799 seasonal viruses that happen to coincide with 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:23.359 fog season. And the mild irritation, that cough, 00:29:23.579 --> 00:29:25.779 the sinus pressure, the headache, that's a real 00:29:25.779 --> 00:29:29.500 physiological response to cold, moist air that 00:29:29.500 --> 00:29:32.019 happens to align with fog season. But the real 00:29:32.019 --> 00:29:35.079 threat is environmental and chemical. The danger 00:29:35.079 --> 00:29:37.960 is that naturally occurring fog, especially during 00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:40.900 stagnant cold periods, is perfectly engineered 00:29:40.900 --> 00:29:43.799 to trap human -treated pollution, concentrate 00:29:43.799 --> 00:29:46.799 it, and thanks to this highly reactive aqueous 00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:49.519 phase chemistry, actively cook that pollution 00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:51.940 into new and significantly more harmful compounds. 00:29:52.279 --> 00:29:54.380 Which makes the composition of fog a powerful 00:29:54.380 --> 00:29:56.480 indicator of our pollution problems demanding 00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:59.619 regulatory action. The research showing that 00:29:59.619 --> 00:30:02.140 increase in intrinsic toxicity, that up to two 00:30:02.140 --> 00:30:04.579 and a half fold increase in ROS activity in fog 00:30:04.579 --> 00:30:06.799 water compared to the original particles, that 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:08.880 presents a profound challenge to our public health 00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:11.460 authorities. The atmosphere is a giant chemical 00:30:11.460 --> 00:30:14.019 reactor right above our heads. If it is, then 00:30:14.019 --> 00:30:16.890 the question is clear. If atmospheric chemistry 00:30:16.890 --> 00:30:20.230 is actively creating new, more harmful pollutants 00:30:20.230 --> 00:30:22.890 during these common weather events, how do we 00:30:22.890 --> 00:30:25.690 accurately factor this dynamic process into our 00:30:25.690 --> 00:30:28.109 standard public health warnings and our daily 00:30:28.109 --> 00:30:31.049 air quality indexes, especially during periods 00:30:31.049 --> 00:30:34.470 of dense, persistent fog when visibility is low 00:30:34.470 --> 00:30:37.450 and pollution concentration is at its peak? That 00:30:37.450 --> 00:30:39.890 is the real regulatory and scientific question 00:30:39.890 --> 00:30:42.980 we have to answer moving forward. That is a powerful 00:30:42.980 --> 00:30:45.299 and necessary question for all of us to consider. 00:30:45.720 --> 00:30:47.279 If you want to keep up with the real science 00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:49.460 behind the headlines and separate fact from viral 00:30:49.460 --> 00:30:51.779 fiction, make sure you like, follow, comment 00:30:51.779 --> 00:30:54.440 and rate this podcast. You can follow meteorologist 00:30:54.440 --> 00:30:57.759 Rob Jones on Instagram at Meteorologist on TikTok 00:30:57.759 --> 00:31:00.720 at TV Meteorologist and on YouTube by following 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:02.859 Rob Jones Hurricane, where you can also find 00:31:02.859 --> 00:31:05.619 the Meteorology Matters podcast playlist. You've 00:31:05.619 --> 00:31:07.740 been listening to Meteorology Matters created 00:31:07.740 --> 00:31:10.220 by meteorologist Rob Jones. Thanks for listening 00:31:10.220 --> 00:31:12.640 and remember. meteorology always matters.