Across Central California, a stubborn cloud cluster has lingered for more than two weeks, bringing periods of heavy fog and uncontrollably low temperatures — and officials say the stagnant weather pattern is likely to persist.
The low stratus clouds – which seem to extend to Bakersfield with chico and west in the Bay – Continue to build a record for obtaining records on the roads and you can help Carlorologist, a meteorologist at Hanford. Temperatures have remained well below average for the past few weeks, he said, with only highs in the upper 40s for most of the region, about the lowest degrees for the year.
“If we continue to stick to this method for most of this month,” said Molina, “we will definitely not put us in the record books for how cool we were in this December regime.”
Already, low, heavy clouds and fog have stuck around for an unprecedented amount of time — 16 days as of Tuesday, by Molina’s count. Forecasts indicate that it could continue for a week.
“Sometimes, when we get this weather rule across California, it usually lasts about a week,” Molina said. So this year’s pattern is “overly sideways.”
Prior to this and this 16-day extension, some areas in the region saw a widespread, dangerous form of Tuque fog, with near-zero visibility. Weather Service officials confirmed that the area’s signature fog developed on November 20, 25 and 26, forming in areas that saw cloud cover during the day, allowing late-night and early-morning fog to develop. On Thanksgiving, parts of Kern County also received tule fog.
In these conditions, the Tule fog rises rapidly, while the blanket of low clouds remains, creating continuous visibility constraints.
Dense fog has been a concern every day since late November, especially on roads that turn from high valleys to low valleys, such as Gapevine, Molina said. In those areas, drivers briefly enter low clouds, where visibility is severely limited, he said.
A density advisory remains in place for the Central California Foothills through at least Tuesday morning.
But, Molina said, “We expect to see this all week.”
A high pressure system moving over California is helping to suppress any possible storms north of northwest Canada, leaving little to disturb the innocent clouds over central California.
“There is nothing to separate the lower stratus,” said Molina.
Because of that, at the moment, there is little chance that Tramatic Tule Font will improve again.
That climate needs clearing of the sky and some global warming. With a technology known as radiation fog, it can grow in any valley, but the geogramento of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys can make it more, resulting in several large pileups of recent roads.
