Obscuring phenomenon

From Glossary of Meteorology



obscuring phenomenon

(Also called obscuration.) Any collection of particles, aloft or in contact with the earth's surface, dense enough to be discernible to the observer.

Examples are haze, dust, smoke, fog or ice fog, spray or mist, drifting or blowing snow, duststorms or sandstorms, dust whirls or sand whirls, and volcanic ash. Potentially, all hydrometeors and lithometeors may be obscuring phenomena.


Copyright 2024 American Meteorological Society (AMS). For permission to reuse any portion of this work, please contact permissions@ametsoc.org. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S. Code § 107) or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S.Copyright Act (17 USC § 108) does not require AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a website or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, require written permission or a license from AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy statement.