Frequent river fog in Chongqing’s Three Gorges Reservoir creates a “painting-like journey” scenery, attracting tourists to visit.

Recently, the Maxin Red Wine Town in Fuling District, Chongqing, has entered a high-frequency period of advection fog phenomena. The dreamlike mist intertwines with the scenic landscape, attracting large numbers of tourists and photography enthusiasts to visit, making it a unique scenic attraction along the Three Gorges Reservoir area.

In the early morning, vapor rises from the surface of the Lixiang Stream, and the advection fog slowly spreads toward the town, gradually “wrapping” the European-style buildings, colorful cable cars, and amusement facilities. The Ferris wheel appears and disappears intermittently, creating a poetic atmosphere; tourists ride the cable cars through the clouds and fog, with the fog-covered Yangtze River and the well-arranged town beneath their feet, immersing themselves in the wonderful feeling of “traveling within a painting.”

Why does advection fog frequently appear here? It is understood that the formation of advection fog requires the coordinated action of several factors: a cold underlying surface, suitable temperature differences, wind speed and direction, sufficient moisture, and a low-level temperature inversion layer. The scenic area is located in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, where the water surface is vast, moisture is abundant, and warm and cold air frequently converge, providing natural conditions for the formation of advection fog. The period from April to July each year is the high-frequency season for local advection fog, and recently, as temperatures have risen, the frequency of this phenomenon has further increased.

It is worth noting that in recent years, the ecological environment of the Three Gorges Reservoir area has continued to improve, the natural scenery of the towns along the river has become more beautiful, and the occurrence of advection fog has significantly increased. In addition to Maxin Red Wine Town, such phenomena often appear in other towns along the river. The unique ecological beauty has injected new vitality into the local cultural and tourism development.