Throughout a lot of Central California, a cluster of cussed clouds has lingered for greater than two weeks, bringing intervals of intense fog and unseasonably low temperatures — and officers say the stagnant climate sample is more likely to persist.
The low stratus clouds — which seem to stretch from Bakersfield via Chico and west into the Bay Space — proceed to create visibility issues on roadways and will assist foster a record-cool December, mentioned Carlos Molina, a meteorologist with the Nationwide Climate Service in Hanford. Temperatures have remained properly beneath common the previous couple of weeks, he mentioned, with highs solely within the higher 40s for a lot of the area, about 10 levels beneath common for this time of yr.
“If we proceed to carry on to this sample for a majority of this month,” Molina mentioned, “it could undoubtedly put us within the document books for a way cool we’ve been this December.”
Already, the low, heavy clouds and fog have caught round an abnormally very long time — 16 days as of Tuesday, by Molina’s rely. Forecasts present it might proceed via the week.
“From time to time, once we do get this climate regime throughout Central California, usually it lasts a couple of week,” Molina mentioned. So this yr’s sample is “on the acute aspect.”
Earlier than and through this 16-day stretch, some areas on this area have seen thick, dangerously opaque tule fog kind briefly, slashing visibility to just about zero. Climate service officers confirmed that the realm’s signature fog developed on Nov. 20, 25 and 26, forming in spots that noticed transient breaks from the clouds throughout the day, permitting the dense late-night and early-morning fog to develop. On Thanksgiving Day, components of Kern County additionally skilled tule fog.
In these situations, the tule fog lifted comparatively shortly, whereas the blanket of low clouds remained, creating ongoing visibility points.
Dense fog has been an virtually every day concern since late November, significantly on roadways that transition from increased elevations into the decrease valleys, comparable to within the decrease Sierra foothills, coastal ranges and alongside the Grapevine, Molina mentioned. In these spots, drivers briefly enter the low clouds, the place visibility turns into extraordinarily restricted, he mentioned.
A dense-fog advisory stays in place throughout the Central California foothills via no less than Tuesday morning.
However, Molina mentioned, “we’re anticipating to see this all of this week.”
A excessive strain system lingering off California helps to push any doable storms north towards the Pacific Northwest and Canada, leaving little to intervene with the tenacious clouds over Central California.
“There’s nothing to interrupt up the low stratus,” Molina mentioned.
Consequently, for now, there’s little likelihood that the dramatic tule fog will develop once more.
That climate phenomenon requires some clearing of skies and a few warming of the bottom. Technically referred to as radiation fog, it could develop in any valley, however the geography of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys could make it significantly intense, leading to a number of huge freeway pileups in recent times.
