[Fantasy] Help with Strange Weather

[Varyon]

I have some (what I think are) interesting ideas for the weather of a fantasy setting, but I don't really have the sort of background needed to puzzle out all the effects, or how they should be handled. Fortunately, many of you do have such backgrounds, so I cast my questions to you, good forumites.

Sun

The sun, such as it is, in this setting is not a star or anything of the like. Rather, during the hour of Dawn, a luminous gas begins to bubble from the eastern sea, causing the horizon to slowly lighten. At the end of Dawn, Sunmake (I probably need a better term) occurs - the gas coalesces into a shining orb, producing heat and light. The orb then arcs over the (more-or-less flat) world, losing potency as it goes. Near the surface of the western sea it undergoes Sunbreak (again, probably need a better name), where the orb shatters and becomes simply a luminous gas again. This gas slowly sinks into the sea during the hour of Dusk, leaving the only light as that of the stars and moon (which produces its own light, rather than reflecting that of a proper sun).

Obviously, this whole process is supernatural, so I don't need any explanations on how/why it happens. I would, however, like some advice on the effect this would have on the world itself. The "Sun" is both bright and hot, so it seems to me that when it forms (and sets) the seas immediately near it would boil into steam, and any land nearby would probably be desert. As it loses potency as it travels, however, it seems to me that you'd end up with some sort of gradient - too close would be burnt and lifeless, then you'd get something more tropical, then subtropics, then something more temperate, then possibly something polar, then (as the sun begins its descent and gets closer) narrower bands of temperate, subtropical, tropical, and desert. Distance from the equator-equivalent would also matter, however - the further to the north or south you get, the colder it's going to be. Such a complicated set of climates is somewhat beyond me - does anybody have a clue as to what such a world would look like?

Mist

Another idea I had, based partially on the antediluvian "water canopy" theory and partially on Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn novels (and that I came up with while misting some plants in the garden), was to have the world's precipitation occasionally replaced by Mist. That is, when the dice indicate rain or snow for the day, a second roll can serve to replace this with a fine vapor. Mist isn't actually water vapor, and distorts light and sound without reflecting or absorbing it. Mist does deposit water on surfaces. This is beneficial in the spring and summer, when it serves to water plants without the destruction that can occur with rainstorms, but in the fall can result in a deadly chill - and in winter a man who finds himself far from shelter when Mist comes may well freeze to death within a shell of ice that forms over his body. Mist forms and mostly stays outdoors - it will leak into a building or cave through open doors, windows, etc, but unless the area is small or riddled with holes will dissipate a short distance in.

With Mist being supernatural, I intend to allow for at least some special abilities to interact with it and/or require it. Tentatively, those with such abilities (and the abilities themselves) would be called Mist Touched. Most are easy enough, as they would simply have a Mist Touched Limitation worth -60% (Mist only occurs outdoors, which is -20%, and is present less than 6% of the time, qualifying it for a -40% from Accessibility). The two that are giving me some trouble, however, are Mist Eye and Mist Ear. As noted above, the Mist distorts light and sound, but all the information still reaches the senses. This results in up to a -4 penalty to Sight and Sound Sense rolls (the penalty cannot exceed half the Range penalty, round against the character). While you technically still see and hear the sights/sounds, they are often so distorted it's impossible to tell what they are - if the penalty makes the difference, the character thinks they saw/heard something, but it was too distorted to figure out what, if anything, it was. I want Mist Eye and Mist Ear to be leveled Perks that negate the penalty out to a certain range. The problem is, I don't know what range is appropriate for each level of the Perk. Characters who opt to pick up Acute Sight and/or Acute Hearing with the Mist Touched Limitation have the value of that Limitation boosted to -80%, but it only works within the range of their Mist Eye or Mist Ear Perk. That is, if a character has Mist Eye (20 yards) and Acute Vision 5 (Mist Touched -80%) [2], said character is at +5 to Sight rolls within 20 yards. Beyond this, however, he loses the benefit of both Mist Eye and Acute Vision - at 30 yards, he's instead at -4. Visually, this looks to the character like a thick wall of Mist at 20 yards out.

My other issue with Mist is that I'm not certain what sort of effects essentially being in a light rain for several hours should have (Mist sticks around for an average of around 8 hours). The advent of Mist slightly changes the ambient temperature (it gets a little cooler if it's warm, a little warmer if it's cold), and the water itself forms at whatever the ambient temperature is - meaning when you're stuck out in 10 degree (Fahrenheit) weather, the Mist deposits ice. How should this be handled for characters traveling through the Mist?