Dr. Todd Dawson, another fog expert with decades of experience studying ecology, told the Times in the same article that “less fog would be a game-changer for a lot of things.” He found in a watershed 2010 study of observational data that fog has dropped by a third since the 1950s. In the past, he stated publicly that San Francisco has “basically lost three hours per day of fog” in recent years. Additional studies analyzing Southern California’s fog levels have reported similar findings, attributing the change to the urban “heat island effect” and a reduction in harmful air pollutants. However, some researchers are skeptical, pointing out that Dawson’s study only took data from two specific airports respectively located in Arcata and Monterey. They note that climate change might even increase fog levels by creating stronger winds, which would drive fog further inland and help atmospheric moisture to condense into fog.