Record fog enveloped coastal areas

WASHINGTON – The summer of 2010 was the foggiest on record in the Pacific Northwest, according to a researcher dubbed “Dr. Fog” by his colleagues.

Record levels of fog were reported in Seattle; Portland; Olympia; and from North Bend, Ore., to Quillayute, Wash., along the coast, said James Johnstone, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Washington’s Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Oceans who’s focused on West Coast fog.

Though the increase in fog is consistent with global warming computer models for the West Coast, Johnstone said there were other factors in play, with California actually becoming less foggy as the Northwest grew foggier.

“If there was an obvious connection to global warming, I would tell you,” Johnstone said. “But we don’t see any real strong evidence.”

With fog on the decline in California there is increasing concern for the redwoods that hug a swath of the state’s northern coast. Fog is considered a critical factor in the health of the giant trees and the rich ecosystem that has grown up around them.

“This system is finely tuned,” said Todd Dawson, a biology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who’s worked with Johnstone. “It’s already been shown fog has an impact on the entire redwood ecosystem. Absolutely, this will be felt.”

Dawson also said fog has been declining along the coast of Chile, Peru and West Africa.

“This could affect ecosystems worldwide,” Dawson said. “These are very biodiverse areas.”

The National Weather Service in Seattle doesn’t track fog, and Johnny Burg, a weather service meteorologist, said he didn’t have the “foggiest idea” whether 2010 was the Northwest’s foggiest year on record.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport had 29 days of heavy fog in 2010, compared with 41 normally, he said. Olympia had 107 days of heavy fog last year, compared with 89 normally.

The difference between the weather service’s tracking of foggy days and Johnstone’s involves definition. The National Weather Service talks about heavy fog with a visibility of a quarter-mile or less. Johnstone defines foggy as when the ceiling of clouds or fog is about 400 meters.