Fog, mist, calima… are we naming the same mystery?

Today we felt like playing language detectives, and we discovered that even when everything looks like the same grey “smudge,” each thing has its own name depending on how much (or how little) it lets us see:

We talk about Fog when visibility drops below 1 kilometer. It’s full-on “hide-and-seek mode”: the water droplets are so dense that the world seems to close in around you. Mist on the other hand, is its more discreet cousin. It still lets you see beyond 1 kilometer. It’s like the forest puts on a soft silk filter… but still lets you guess the path.

And Calima… ah, that’s a different kind of trick! It has nothing to do with water. What’s floating is solid particles: dust, sand in suspension, or even ash. The result isn’t a damp grey, but a milky sky and an orange-ish or strange light, like the day wrapped itself in a blanket of fine earth.

Magikito conclusion: sometimes what looks the same on the outside has a different ingredient on the inside.