Why does dew accumlate on only one side of my car?

Question

Many days I walk out to my car to go to work and notice my windows are fogged up, I believe due to dew (haha homophones). When I am at my mother's house(O'Fallon, MO), all Windows get fogged up. When I am at my father's house (Saint Charles, MO), only one side of the car is fogged up.

This is kind of a two-part question. 1) How does dew accumulate? 2) Why would it only accumulate on one side of my car?

I suspect it has to do with the fact the side that does not fog up faces a tree. This is very curious to me. Since I am not sure what else is needed to answer my question, I will update as comments come in.

Answer 1

The formation of dew is due to atmospheric moisture and temperature.

Given that dew forms on all sides of your car at your mother's house, this makes me think the car is more exposed at you mother's house so that the car is uniformly cold and the temperature of the car is at, or below, the dew point.

With dew only forming on one side of the car when at your father's house, this tends to infer there is a temperature difference between each side of the car; with the side of the car on which due forms being colder.

You mention that dew does not form on the side of the car facing a tree. If the tree is sufficiently large and leafy (bushy) and the car is close enough to the tree, the tree can shield the car from the cold air thus making that side of the car slightly warmer than the other side of the car. As long as the temperature is above the dew point, due will not form.

Dew point varies for atmospheric moisture content, temperature and air pressure.