Brings back a couple memories. I was raised in the Skyline Mountains separating the Bay from the Pacific; we lived roughly abeam Woodside and Redwood City. Had a great house with a 150 degree view of the Bay from Moffet Field to almost So. San Fran. When we looked back at the ridge line behind us, there was a saddle in the mountains. Every evening during fog season the fog would build up on the ocean side, and we'd start to see it pour through the saddle and start filling up the bay. We would be above the fog the whole time, although occasionally it would build up high enough we would be engulfed as well. Then, until dusk when we couldn't see the show anymore, we'd watch the fog pour in slow motion through that saddle like syrupy whipped cream.
We lived right on Skyline Drive, and there was a portion of the road about 2 miles north that was also a "saddle", with the ground dropping away on both side. A few times the fog would build up to about 2 feet above the road on the ocean side, then "pour" across the road to the bay side. At times you'd be sitting in the sun in the car, yet your wheels would be in the fog and you'd almost unable to see the road. Surreal.
Also lived in both Sacto and Fresno, as Bruce says, W0X0F was routine. In Fresno in particular, at its thickest you could be sitting at the base of a street sign and it would disappear into the fog. It was pretty scary driving as it was impossible to see stop signs, stop lights, crossing traffic, etc. And those people in white cars.....! I was flying corporate at that point, and routinely telling the boss, "we need to go, we need to go now" as he'd try to delay arrival back home in Fresno. Wasn't able to make it in several times ("I told you....")
Interestingly, it is the west coast fog which allows the giant redwoods to grow as tall as they do. My understanding is that for a long time botanists couldn't understand how the trees were getting moisture up through the trunk to the tops of the trees - hundreds of feet. The pressures required for the trees to "pump" the liquid upward seemed impossible. Turns out, the trees absorb from the ground, but the also require the fog, and absorb a lot of their moisture from it at the tops.
I miss the Bay Area.
