A heavy fog descending on Melbourne on Wednesday evening could hang around for days, according to the weather bureau.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Senior forecaster Richard Carlyon said perfect conditions of high humidity and light wind meant the fog had crept north on a sea breeze from Port Phillip Bay.
By 6pm it had settled in over Melbourne's CBD but was expected to expand further north overnight, and recur for the next three mornings.
This is the view from the 3AW newsroom
#fog
#melbweather
pic.twitter.com/tZWwZbCJaP — 3AW Melbourne (@3AW693)
August 27, 2014
"It looks likely to be quite thick fog and visibility is likely to drop to below 100 metres during tonight (Wednesday) and tomorrow morning," Mr Carlyon said.
"It's very stable conditions with light winds and the relative humidity is high. That causes fog and also there is nothing to really disperse it tomorrow in terms of wind."
"The heat of the sun should gradually burn it off by late morning or the middle of the day."
AAP reported that visibility was down to 400 metres at Essendon Airport and 600 metres at Moorabbin Airport.
A Melbourne Airport spokeswoman told Fairfax Media the fog was having "some impact" on flights at Tullamarine and causing "some delays", but had no further details.
Mr Carlyon said that with Wednesday's sunny conditions the fog "did contract southerwards" in the afternoon, but "never really cleared from the southern suburbs and Bellarine and Mornington peninsulas".
"It's now rolled back to the city with a sea breeze coming from the south, heading northwards to the city in the the last few hours, and is heading back up to the northern suburbs."
He said thick fog on Wednesday night is expected to hang around until at least late morning on Thursday.
"There's no wind forecast to help disperse it tomorrow morning, and that means a slow clearance of the fog."
By Thursday afternoon Melbourne's temperature is forecast to be a mild top of 20 degrees, but with light winds persisting, the fog is due to return on Friday and Saturday mornings.
"After that we're going to see slightly stronger wind and by later Saturday morning we should see it clear. But it's possible we will have fog for the next three mornings .
