Dense fog, smoke created challenging commute for New Orleans, Gulf Coast for 3rd straight day
The Dense Fog Advisory issued Thursday morning for communities from southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle was allowed to expire as visibility improved across the region by late morning.
Dangerous driving conditions expected Thursday morning as super fog returns near New Orleans
Dense fog and smoke blanketed the New Orleans area Wednesday morning and it's possible it may redevelop again Thursday morning.
NEW ORLEANS – A combination of dense fog and smoke blanketed the New Orleans area for the third consecutive day Thursday morning.
It created yet another difficult morning commute after Wednesday's super fog, which resulted in nearby highway closures. The thick smoke from a wildfire on Tuesday also led to a deadly crash on Interstate 10.
Nearby marsh fires were still spewing smoke into the air after sunrise Thursday, as a moderate temperature inversion near the surface trapped the smoke near the ground, the FOX Forecast Center said.
"Those temperatures are dropping. That's what's leading to that fog formation because we do have that warmer air aloft," FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said. "It allows for everything to kind of hug the ground. You're literally driving through a cloud."
Super fog leads to road closures in New Orleans
A combination of marsh-fire smoke and fog caused poor visibility and road closures in the New Orleans area on Wednesday.
The dense fog in some areas reduced visibility to under a quarter-mile. The visibility was predicted to drop to as low as 100 feet where any dense fog mixed with the wildfire smoke.
The extremely low visibility mostly impacted areas downwind of the New Orleans East wildfire, the National Weather Service office in New Orleans said.
The Dense Fog Advisory issued Thursday morning for communities from southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle was allowed to expire as visibility improved across the region by late morning.
DENSE WILDFIRE SMOKE BLAMED FOR DEADLY I-10 CRASH OUTSIDE NEW ORLEANS
"The problem is you can't see, and if you can't see, you shouldn't be driving," Merwin said.
A Dense Fog Advisory was in effect Wednesday morning, Nov. 8, 2023, as both directions of Interstate 10 were closed near Interstate 510 due to dense fog, the Louisiana Department of Transportation said. Visibility was predicted to be reduced to less than 100 feet in some portions of St. Tammany and Orleans parishes before the fog lifted by late Wednesday morning.
(WVUE / FOX Weather)
FOX 8 in New Orleans reported school start times were delayed because of the potential for super fog to form Thursday morning. A full list of delays can be seen here.
The FOX Forecast Center said this would be the last day for any potential super fog as an approaching storm system is expected to provide relief for the area by Friday morning.
The weather phenomenon forced authorities and transportation officials to close highways around New Orleans for hours Wednesday morning. No accidents were reported, according to New Orleans police. This came only one day after dense wildfire smoke was blamed for a deadly crash along Interstate 10 on Tuesday.