"Haze"

City Hall - San Francisco  2024

Buildings - San Francisco  2024

Last December: no offshore breeze and no storms coming through, resulting in stagnant air and extremely unhealthy conditions. I happened to be in San Francisco in the afternoon with an Olympus E-M1II and a 14-150mm zoom lens.

Mt. Tamalpais - 5

 

Mt. Tamalpais, Haze - Marin County  2021

Alas, "stagnant air" is fairly typical in late Fall and Winter in the Bay Area nowadays. I've complained about this before.

Beautiful Lake Don Pedro

Lake Don Pedro - Tuolumne County  2020

Lake Don Pedro Viewpoint - Tuolumne County  2020

Pretty humdrum, compared to last year's snowy weather. Notice the "haze" at the bottom sky area. That is to say, smog.

Some Smoke

Mt Lassen, Lake Almanor - Plumas County  2017

Telephone Poles, Hills, Smoke - Sierra Nevada  2017

Driving from Boomtown to Alturas on Highway 89 I came to a viewpoint over Lake Almanor with some odd white shapes in the distance. It wasn't until I got out of the car that I realized that they were snow fields on Mount Lassen. Here's a nicer photo of the lake from 2007: Lake Almanor & Forest.

The air became progressively smokier and I started to get a wee bit concerned. Eventually, the atmosphere cleared up somewhat.

River, Truck - Sierra Nevada  2017

Utah Pollution

Hunter Power Plant - Utah  2016

Sources of Utah Pollution (Canyonlands NP) - Utah  2016

Top: Hunter Power Plant (coal-fired).

Bottom: Canyonland NP sign showing sources of Utah pollution.

More Smog

Smog - Point Reyes  2015

Smog - Marin County  2015

OK, not real smog. Not the kind of throat-choking, gut-ripping smog I remember from my early days in Los Angeles. More like stagnant air, I guess.

Extremely aggravating, nonetheless. It's not enough that there hasn't been any rain this winter, oh no. We also have to get "Spare the Air" days and the worst visibility I've ever seen in Marin County.

Also of note, from the San Francisco Chronicle: 

Not one drop of measurable rain fell on city streets in January, the first time that’s happened in recorded weather history, which dates back to the Gold Rush.

[Update: Rain predicted for this weekend!]

Ferry Markers, Fog; Ferry, Smog

Ferry Markers, Fog - Marin County  2014

Taken near San Quentin State Prison. Top photo was taken in December: the last quarter of 2014 was photographically very nice with wind, rain and clouds. Alas, 2015 has seen a return of the smoggy condition I've mentioned before. Below: taken in January of this year.

Ferry, Smog - Marin County  2015

Monday Horse and Crow Blogging

White Horse, Crow - Marin County  2014

In this instance the "haze" in the San Geronimo Valley added to the delineation of depth in the photo.

Below, a photo taken in the early morning of the same horse - Joe - eating his breakfast.

White Horse - Marin County  2014

San Francisco Smog

Alcatraz, Mt. Tamalpais, Smog - San Francisco  2013

Let's look at some smog! If there aren't any storms coming through (and there haven't been), the Bay Area during the fall and winter is subject to unhealthy, visually polluting smog.

Although I guess that I shouldn't be calling it "smog," since modern day smog has historically been a product mainly of automobiles. This stuff is a combination of a lot of things, apparently. So we have "Spare The Air" days when no wood burning is allowed.

San Francisco Smog

Skyline, Smog - San Francisco  2013

Recently I drove highway 101 from Los Angeles heading north.

So: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, Monterey, San Jose and then, the Bay Area. By far the worst air quality (visually speaking) was experienced in the Bay Area. That's ridiculous.

And, I've complained about this before. Yikes!

Desert Photo Op

Joshua Trees - San Bernardino County  2012

Joshua Tree - San Bernardino County  2012

Heading towards Las Vegas Mike decided to take an offramp at the top of a freeway grade, wanting to unlimber his little Olympus E-PL1 for some scenic pix. He was in luck . . . many joshua trees in evidence.

Must say though, that there remained in inordinate amount of "haze" during this first portion of the trip.

Glacier Point

Yosemite Falls from Glacier Point - Yosemite  2012

Tree, Half Dome - Yosemite  2012

Mike got to his El Portal campground around noon, had lunch and a beer, then set up camp: a walk-in camp, requiring a few trips to bring the equipment down.

Since the rest of the afternoon was free, he decided to head on up to Glacier Point, actually a substantial drive. There had been some clouds in the vicinity, but by the time he got to the view, they had disappeared.

Too bad, because what was left was just a little unpleasant: smog-impaired views of the valley below, and Half Dome in extremely flat light. Oh well! Some of the visitors were intriguing enough, though.

Visitor, Nevada Fall - Yosemite  2012

"Atmospheric Haze" in Marin

Mt. Tamalpais & "Haze" - Marin County  2012

Oak & "Haze" - Marin County  2011

. . . aka air pollution. This past fall, and now continuing into winter, has seen an outlandish number of "spare the air" days as stagnant air settles in over the entire bay area. (December had the second-lowest monthly rain total ever for Marin.) What's interesting is that crummy days get the same forecast as great days (sunny, highs in the 60's.)

Usually all the pollution that we generate is blown away from here . . . to San Jose, or Sacramento, or wherever. Somewhere else, anyway. How outrageous to have it stay right here!

Earlier annoyed smog report here.

Matsumoto

Photo from our hotel window. Yikes! I'd almost forgotten how smoky it was (agricultural burning.) But Matsumoto was actually very nice, a high-altitude city.

Photo: Train—Matsumoto, 2008

Smog in the Mountains

Very disconcerting and discouraging.

Top pix is the view west from Crown Pass, overlooking the San Joaquin Valley choked in smog which ends up filling the interior canyons of the Sierra. Several contrails as a bonus.

Then, the view south from the same vicinity. Even objects only a few miles away are obscured.

Below, the view leaving Woodchuck Lake: trees clear in the foreground but the far side of the lake starting to fade.

Photos: View West—Sierra Nevada, 2009; View South—Sierra Nevada, 2009; Trees, Woodchuck Lake—Sierra Nevada, 2009

Big Mountain #1

Mt. Hood, at a point where the "haze" had diminished due to elevation, with pear trees in the foreground.

As the road lost elevation, the "haze" crept back.

Photos: Mt. Hood and Pear Trees—Oregon, 2009; Trees & Ridges—Oregon, 2009

Back to Matsumoto

On the way back from the monkeys we took the same one-track train out of Yudanaka. Once again, the station agent had to work the ticket machine for us. Getting close to Nagano a group of schoolkids boarded the train: we were stared at for a few minutes, then quickly forgotten.

Also seen: agricultural burning which, together with what I assume were inversion conditions, really cut down on visibility in and around Matsumoto. Maybe spring or summer would be better for mountain-viewing?

Photos: Track Out of Yudanaka—Japan, 2008; Schoolkids on Train—Japan, 2008; Burning—Japan, 2008