Beware the Fog

Feb 93 min read

It's been a slow start to the year so far, I've have yet to find a morning I could go out to shoot. The weekends have either been cloudy or I've been too sick to even think about venturing out into the cold. I had one small window of opportunity but the nemesis of the early season showed up at the last minute.

Fog

If you've ever wondered about the extra temperature number they often throw in during the weather it's known as dew point and the answer to how it relates to your life is fog. When the air temperature and the dew point converge moisture begins to fall out of the air in the form a truly irritating mist. It obscures the sky, coats your gear and can really ruin an otherwise beautifully clear night sky.

Best Laid Plans

I had the perfect plan, I even had some fellow photographers that were as eager as I was to get out on the beach and get some shots. The trouble started Saturday morning when I took the dogs out. I noticed that the overcast sky was more of a high fog than low clouds and it gave me a bad feeling. The forecast was still for clear skies so I put it out of my mind and throughout the day I continued to get my stuff ready.

Tripods, check. Batteries, check. Memory cards, check. Flashlight and headlamp, check and check. I laid out my clothes and started making plans to turn in early. Messages crisscrossed my phone working out timing and location. However, in the early evening things began to change.

The forecast that had been clear after midnight now showed light clouds until about 4am. Finally about 10pm, bedtime for those of us preparing to head out in the morning, the first photographer bailed out. He didn't like what he was seeing. I remained hopeful and tried to sleep but shortly after 11pm I checked again and there it was, fog. I turned off my 1am alarm and let the rest of the crew know they could sleep in.

The Trick to Reading Fog

Fog can be a tricky thing to read in a forecast. Sometimes it show up on screen and sometimes it doesn't. In the image above the sky over the beach looks clear but just off shore is an odd cloud formation that appears to hug the coast. This is the tale tell signature of marine fog. If it's not there but you see a temperature forecast like the one below with the dew point only 2 degrees below the air temp and some high humidity you need to plan on fog.

Air temp and dew point with only a 2 point split.

Go or No Go

Sometimes it can come down to a judgement call. I've been out nights when the temps were close but there really wasn't that much moisture in the air and I was fog free. Other nights it was obvious and unfortunately this weekend was one of those. I did make the mistake on one occasion of not recognizing that marine fog indicator on Astrospheric. That cost me about 5 hours driving back and forth when I elected to NOT spend what would have been a very damp night camping at the shore.

Now We Wait

There is still hope for February, the morning of the 23rd will have a 40 minute window between Core rise and Moonrise. If the weather will cooperate and the fog will stay away I'll be somewhere along the coast cameras set. Until then I'll keep my just fingers crossed for a SpaceX launch to be thrown in the schedule.