San Francisco fog generation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The famous fog of San Francisco, California is a specific case of sea fog. Sea fog is a specific type of advection fog, which is characterized by the lateral transfer of temperature by wind blowing over cooler water. The water is often cool enough to lower the temperature of the air to the dewpoint, causing fog generation. Coastal areas in Mediterranean climates, such as San Francisco, have especially high occurrences of sea fog blowing off the ocean to just a few miles inland.

In San Francisco, the fog is created when warm, moist air blows from the central Pacific Ocean across the cold water of the California Current, which flows just off the coast.

[edit] Further reading

• "Advection" and "Advection Fog" Facts on File Dictionary of the Weather and Climate. Ed. Jaqueline Smith. Facts on File, Inc: New York. 2001.
• D.J. Croft. "Fog" in Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences. Eds. James R. Holton, Judith A. Curry, and John A. Pyle. Academic Press: New York. 2003.
• Ross Reynolds. Cambridge Guide to the Weather. Cambridge University Press: New York. 2000