Fog

I can understand why, throughout history, people thought of fog as an evil thing with a mind of its own. Fog has its own rules that sometimes seem to contradict physics and our knowledge of the natural world.

Irvine has a few areas where the fog creeps in on its little cat feet and then stays well after when it should be slinking back out to sea. Both mornings this week, driving into work at a little after 8 am, I ran through a fog bank so thick that I could not see more than about 100-200 feet ahead. The only reason I could see that far is because the sun was already up, the temperature was already heading toward 70, and the fog was fighting a losing battle against dehydration.

I have traveled the same route as early as 6 am. The early fog can be so thick you cannot see the white dashed line separating your lane from the lane right next to yours. I have experience it so thick in this area that I was stopped at an intersection and could only just make out the stop light across from me. It was once so thick that I pulled completely off the street and waited about 20 minutes for it to clear enough that I felt safe driving—I couldn’t see anything!

The funny thing is that this fog only occurs in certain areas. In the eight or so miles I drive to work, the first five are pretty much clear. In the last three miles, however, there are four separate spots where the fog may be laying in wait for me. These areas can be either north/south bands or east/west bands—you would think it would be consistently one or the other. Two of the fog regions are in wide-open areas, but are small, condensed locations of fog—probably not more than 100 yards deep. Yet the fog in those 100 yards can be so thick you cannot see beyond your bumper. Then it is perfectly clear and sunny for about ¼ mile until you hit the next thick patch.

I do not presume to understand the meteorology behind how fog works. I’m sure that subduction, induction, inverse layers, dew points, cold air falling, and other factors play integral roles in why these spots can hold the fog so thickly and for so much longer than surrounding areas. What I do know is that I look forward every morning to seeing these spots and wondering about them as I make my otherwise mundane way into work. It is like a little mystery the natural world springs on me to remind me there is more to life than work.