Fog turns Perth into mystical winter wonderland, causing delays at Perth Airport

Perth residents awoke to a rare, mystical treat on Thursday morning, with heavy fog blanketing much of WA's west coast, causing disruption for motorists and at Perth Airport.
The widespread fog shrouded areas from the state's far south west, extending up the west coast to Carnarvon and inland through parts of the Goldfields district.
The murky and misty air gave Perth's CBD an eerie vibe with buildings almost invisible behind a thick cloak of fog.
The conditions followed a cold front that passed through the south west region on Wednesday, leaving behind cooler overnight temperatures and cloud-free skies.
Perth Airport confirmed 18 flights in and out were delayed on Thursday because of limited visibility.
In a statement, it said a mix of regional interstate flights were disrupted and two had to be diverted back to their departure points.
To form the perfect recipe for fog, you need four main components: moisture, cold air, light winds and clear skies overnight.
Those elements typically happen when a cold front moves through, which is what we saw yesterday.
The Bureau of Meteorology's Jessica Lingard said those elements were typically found behind cold fronts.
"As the air cools, any of that moisture in the air, that water vapour condenses into water droplets and we end up with clouds forming on the ground," she said.
"Any wind or cloud overnight is going to keep temperatures warmer and prevent that cooling that we need."
It was the second morning this week that Perth has woken to misty conditions, after the city was blanketed on Monday.
However, Ms Lingard said Thursday morning's fog was more extensive than normal.
"We do see places like Port Hedland and through the Pilbara district that will have fog events, but this one was quite extensive because it was all one system that formed it rather than just localised patches of fog," she said.
For fog to clear in the morning, the sun needs to warm the earth, which will in turn warm the air above it and dry the moisture out, lifting and clearing the cloud away from the ground.
"Sometimes we have, like we did on Monday, high cloud moving in and that blocks out a bit of the sun so we see the fog lingers around for a little bit longer in the morning," Ms Lingard said.
With cloudy conditions having settled in overnight ahead of another cold front, Friday morning was tipped to be fog free across much of the state.
That front is set to bring a burst of wintry weather to western and south-western parts of WA over the course of Friday and into the weekend.
"We're not likely to see any fog [on Friday] because we're going to have that cloud cover and it's also going to be too windy for fog to form nicely," Ms Lingard said.
"But as the cloud clears, there may be opportunities for some fog to form but probably not as widespread."
The Bureau of Meteorology has warned the cold front could bring severe thunderstorms and damaging winds for WA's south west and coastal regions on Friday.
Some places could see rainfall totals exceed 40 millimetres, while areas further inland could be looking at 5 to 10mm.
Behind the system, winds will shift dramatically to south-westerly and stay strong and blustery, making temperatures feel very chilly this weekend.

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