Return of fog to Modesto area prompts safety warnings

It’s thick, it’s confusing and after a considerable hiatus, it’s back: the tule fog that regularly blankets the Northern San Joaquin Valley in the winter months.

“It’s pretty typical in the winter,” said Courtney Obergfell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “We just hadn’t seen it until the last couple of weeks.”

The fog, which forms as air cools and condenses, has returned with a vengeance in the last week or so. And without any storm systems headed our way anytime soon, it’s likely to stick around, particularly in the night and morning hours.

Foggy conditions may have contributed to an accident outside Atwater early Friday morning that left a 24-year-old man hospitalized with major injuries. Earlier this month, a Turlock man was severely injured after a woman driving on Fulkerth Road hit his car head-on while trying to pass another vehicle in heavy fog.

The Stanislaus Office of Emergency Services has been promoting fog safety, particularly encouraging drivers to turn on their lights immediately when getting into their cars.

Though newer models of cars have running lights, those aren’t sufficient in the fog and drivers should put on their low beams, officials said. Hence, a new “Start It Up, Light ’Em Up” campaign.

“We’ve seen cars all over the place in heavy fog without their lights on today,” StanEmergency spokesman David Jones said. “We’re seeing a lot more fog than usual this season, so people might need to adjust their driving habits.”

On Friday morning, Jones said, he passed a man “driving in heavy fog with no lights and hunched over his cellphone. It’s frustrating, because it’s a danger to the people around him who are doing the right thing.”

The fog looks like it’s going to stick around for a while. The National Weather Service predicts dense fog Saturday morning, followed by patchy night and morning fog through at least Monday.

Next week, a weather system will move in that might offer some relief from the fog as well as some much-needed rain. The region hasn’t had any measurable rainfall since December, when a series of storms lifted hopes among residents who have suffered through three years of drought.

But Obergfell said any rainfall is likely to be meager.

“There’s a chance of rain Tuesday and Wednesday, but it’s not looking super promising,” she said. “There will maybe be a few showers here and there. But it’s not a big soaker.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2015 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Return of fog to Modesto area prompts safety warnings."