The science of how dew forms

If you have woken up the last several mornings early and have had the duty of taking your pet outdoors, you might have gotten wet shoes and pants walking through the grass. This is caused by the formation of dew which has been limited until recently across the region.

The formation of dew occurs due to fairly decent moisture content levels of the soil, the temperature falling to the same level as the dew point temperatures near the surface, and low wind nights.

Dew typically occurs and forms on grass because non-paved surfaces typically do not heat up as quickly and effectively as concrete surfaces.

This means the temperature of the grass can cool quicker throughout the overnight hours without cloud cover overhead.

Our current drought conditions remains pretty fair across the region thanks to decent rainfall totals seen at the beginning of July and the last couple of weeks. There are some areas being added to the drier conditions on the latest drought monitor, but for the most part moisture content looks pretty close to where it should be for this time of the year.

Dew points in green and the actual air surface temperature look to become close to equal tonight allowing for condensation to occur and form on non-paved areas.

Winds overnight also remain on the lower end, allowing for all requirements to be met to form dew across some portions of Mid-Missouri.