Dew

Dew is water that appears on grass overnight without anyone having seen it arrive. It is not rain, because it did not fall, and it is not a puddle, because it lacks ambition.^[1]

Dew forms when the air cools and can no longer hold all its water, so it puts some down on the nearest lawn, like someone arriving home with too much shopping.

Investigation

Because dew forms in the dark, its arrival has never been witnessed. A 1988 project filmed a single lawn for 300 nights. Every night the footage showed a dry lawn, then a wet lawn, and in between, a lawn. Investigators described the dew as “careful”. It leaves the same way, usually by 11 a.m., and the Sun remains the only suspect.^[2]

Dew point

The dew point is the temperature at which dew forms. Weather forecasters mention it in every report and have never once been asked a follow-up question.

Dew is most often discovered not by scientists but by socks, usually the second sock, after the first one has already found out and said nothing.

See also

• Frost – dew that stayed out in the cold
• Puddle – dew with ambition
• Rain – dew that fell

References

1. Moist, M. (1988). 300 Nights on a Lawn. Damp Press.
2. Lawn, L. (2002). “Who Put That There?”. Grass Quarterly 12.