--- title: Fog, Haze, Mist - What's The Difference? | WeatherBug | WeatherBug description: Let’s look at different atmospheric phenomena that reduce visibility. canonical: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Fog,-Haze,-Mist-What-s-The-Difference og:title: Fog, Haze, Mist - What's The Difference? | WeatherBug | WeatherBug og:description: Let’s look at different atmospheric phenomena that reduce visibility. og:url: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Fog,-Haze,-Mist-What-s-The-Difference og:site_name: WeatherBug og:locale: en_US og:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/56/56e39162-a9d1-4f3d-a280-d5f805b485fe/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/33ed5526-7ebd-442b-921f-1db162866d4b.jpg og:image:width: 800 og:image:height: 600 og:image:alt: Story Image via pixabay.com og:type: article article:published_time: 2024-09-01T17:54:49Z article:modified_time: 2024-09-01T17:54:49Z article:author: By WeatherBug's Christopher Smith article:tag: danger article:tag: dust article:tag: fog article:tag: haze article:tag: mist article:tag: smoke article:tag: visibility twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fog, Haze, Mist - What's The Difference? | WeatherBug twitter:description: Let’s look at different atmospheric phenomena that reduce visibility. twitter:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/56/56e39162-a9d1-4f3d-a280-d5f805b485fe/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/33ed5526-7ebd-442b-921f-1db162866d4b.jpg --- [](/) [Back to forecast](/) # Fog, Haze, Mist - What's The Difference? > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with WeatherBug. WeatherBug is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: October 2026. ## The Drop by WeatherBug: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Drop is WeatherBug's free email newsletter. Readers join the conversation with WeatherBug meteorologists about the weather stories everyone is talking about, the forecasts that matter to them, and notable weather videos. 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The WeatherBug app is free on the App Store and Google Play. ### Sources * The Drop newsletter sign-up: [Sign up for The Drop](/c/weatherbug-drop-2026q4/signup?i=0dbad851-694d-40d2-bcfe-dc8a696477ae&cr=weatherbug-drop-2026q4-v1) * WeatherBug llms.txt: https://www.weatherbug.com/llms.txt * WeatherBug news: https://www.weatherbug.com/news * WeatherBug videos: https://www.weatherbug.com/weather-videos * WeatherBug iOS app: [App Store](/c/weatherbug-drop-2026q4/ios?i=0dbad851-694d-40d2-bcfe-dc8a696477ae&cr=weatherbug-drop-2026q4-v1) * WeatherBug Android app: [Google Play](/c/weatherbug-drop-2026q4/android?i=0dbad851-694d-40d2-bcfe-dc8a696477ae&cr=weatherbug-drop-2026q4-v1) ### FAQ structured data (JSON-LD, optional) September 1, 2024 at 01:54 PM EDT By WeatherBug's Christopher Smith  Fog, haze, smoke, mist, the list goes on for types of atmospheric phenomena that can limit visibility. Let’s look at different dangers and what causes them. * **Fog** is what may be the most common and familiar visibility-reducer. Quite literally, fog is like a cloud at ground-level with visible particles of water reducing visibility to less than 5/8th of a mile. Water droplets in fog do not reach or wet the surface like drizzle. * **Mist** is quite like fog, but the visibility is higher, greater than 5/8th of a mile, but still less than 7 miles. Mist consists of visible water particles suspended in the air in a moist environment. The dew point and temperature separation must be 3 degrees or less for mist to exist. * **Haze** is most found in urban areas since it consists of tiny, dry particles of pollutants. When the dew point is at least 3 degrees cooler than the air temperature, the obscured visibility is often defined as haze. * **Smoke** is caused by wildfires and can reduce visibility and cause respiratory issues. Smoke can transform into haze as the jet-stream, a path of high winds well above the surface, carries the particles hundreds of miles. * **Dust** can form as wind picks up tiny particles of dirt and sand. Common in the Desert Southwest, dust can not only reduce visibility, but can be dangerous in massive quantities such as found in dust storms. These are just a few examples of atmospheric particles that can reduce visibility. It’s important to leave extra time and space when on the road during reduced visibility as unforeseen objects can pop up quickly and cause dangerous travel. _Source:_ weather.gov \---------- _Story Image_ via pixabay.com We use technologies, such as cookies, to analyze your use (i.e., pages visited), to customize content, for our internal analytics purposes and for security and other purposes. By continuing to use this website, you agree to this usage. 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[Ad Choices](/legal/privacy#digitaladvertisingandyourchoices) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Fog,-Haze,-Mist-What-s-The-Difference"},"headline":"Fog, Haze, Mist - What's The Difference?","description":"Let’s look at different atmospheric phenomena that reduce visibility.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/56/56e39162-a9d1-4f3d-a280-d5f805b485fe/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/33ed5526-7ebd-442b-921f-1db162866d4b.jpg","caption":"Story Image via pixabay.com"}],"datePublished":"2024-09-01T17:54:49Z","dateModified":"2024-09-01T17:54:49Z","dateCreated":"2024-09-01T17:54:49Z","articleSection":"Weather News","keywords":"danger,dust,fog,haze,mist,smoke,visibility","articleBody":"Fog, haze, smoke, mist, the list goes on for types of atmospheric phenomena that can limit visibility. Let’s look at different dangers and what causes them. Fog is what may be the most common and familiar visibility-reducer. Quite literally, fog is like a cloud at ground-level with visible particles of water reducing visibility to less than 5/8th of a mile. Water droplets in fog do not reach or wet the surface like drizzle. Mist is quite like fog, but the visibility is higher, greater than 5/8th of a mile, but still less than 7 miles. Mist consists of visible water particles suspended in the air in a moist environment. The dew point and temperature separation must be 3 degrees or less for mist to exist. Haze is most found in urban areas since it consists of tiny, dry particles of pollutants. When the dew point is at least 3 degrees cooler than the air temperature, the obscured visibility is often defined as haze. Smoke is caused by wildfires and can reduce visibility and cause respiratory issues. Smoke can transform into haze as the jet-stream, a path of high winds well above the surface, carries the particles hundreds of miles. Dust can form as wind picks up tiny particles of dirt and sand. Common in the Desert Southwest, dust can not only reduce visibility, but can be dangerous in massive quantities such as found in dust storms. These are just a few examples of atmospheric particles that can reduce visibility. It’s important to leave extra time and space when on the road during reduced visibility as unforeseen objects can pop up quickly and cause dangerous travel. 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