By Mary O’KEEFE

On Thursday, ridiculously early in the morning, I was on the road delivering papers for CVW. It was surprisingly clear in the CV area but, as I made my way into Glendale, this thick fog appeared. It was so thick it was difficult at times to see the streetlights. It blocked out the sun as it was rising … that got me thinking about what fog really is, about how many times I had driven up and down the coast when the fog rolled in so thick I had to pull over and, of course, the 1980s film “The Fog.”

First let’s start with science. According to the National Weather Service, there are actually different types of fog; here are just a few:

Radiation fog is a type of fog that forms at night under clear skies with calm winds when heat absorbed by the Earth’s surface during the day is radiated into space. As the Earth’s surface continues to cool, when a deep enough layer of moist air is present near the ground and the humidity reaches 100%, fog will form. It can be in depths from three feet to 1,000 feet.

Then there is advection fog. This looks a lot like radiation fog and is also the result of condensation; however, the condensation in this case is caused not by a reduction in surface temperature, but rather by the horizontal movement of warm moist air over a cold surface. It’s like when warm moist air moves over snow.

Freezing fog occurs when water droplets remain in the liquid state until they come into contact with a surface upon which they can freeze. As a result, any object the freezing fog comes into contact with will become coated in ice. (Think of Mr. Freeze, a Gotham City foe.)

There is evaporation or mixing fog. This type of fog forms when sufficient water vapor is added to the air by evaporation and the moist air mixes with cooler, drier air. This is like when steam fog forms when cold air moves over warm water. The other type of evaporation fog is known as frontal fog that forms when raindrops evaporate into a cooler drier layer of the air near the ground.

And not to be left out is: hail fog, which usually forms after a heavy hailstorm. The cold balls of ice fall into warm, very moist air near the surface. As the hail accumulates on the ground, it cools the air just above the ground to the dew point, which results in fog.

The fog I experienced on Thursday appeared to be radiation fog … and it was thick. Now I know there was a remake in 2005 of “The Fog,” but my family is more partial to the 1980 version. I am not a horror film fan of films like “Halloween.” I like science fiction horror, like “Alien,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “The War of the Worlds” but “The Fog,” thanks to the brilliance of director/writer John Carpenter and writer Debra Hill, created a great mixture of ghostly revenge, humor and horror. There were so many in-your-face jumps (you know the kind you jump at then try to laugh it off).

For those who haven’t seen the film – as always recommended take a moment to watch it. The film’s plot dealt with a ship that mysteriously sank 100 years ago in the waters off Antonio Bay, a fictional seaside town in California. Antonio Bay was celebrating its 100th birthday.

The opening starts with all the backstory one needs told by actor John Houseman as Mr. Machen telling the story over a bonfire to children. The ship, as the story goes, had sunk as it was lured onto the rocks by a bonfire they thought was a safety signal. The tortured souls were to come onto shore between midnight and 1 a.m. looking for those who had set the bonfire.

The bay has had fog before but as radio host Stevie Wayne, portrayed by Adrienne Barbeau, said, “There is something different about this fog.”

Images of shadows of people in the fog would be briefly seen then a sudden attack would occur.

I love films that take something out of the real world and expand into a completely different universe. This hooks the audience into thinking, “What if?” The best of these types of films, in my opinion, is of course “The Birds” though not all of these reality-and-beyond crossovers work; however, when they do they work really well.

So as I was driving through the fog last week, I tried really hard to convince myself that what I had seen was simply a shadow of a tree – not an ancient mariner from the past with a really big hook.

Not much fog is expected but there was rain expected last night into today with a chance of isolated thunderstorms in the mountains. This rainstorm is expected to bring a half inch to 1 inch of rain in the valley and 1 inch to 2 inches of rain in the foothills. There was a 70% chance of snow expected on the Grapevine last night into today with a 30% chance of up to an inch of snow being received.
There is a possibility of a sprinkling of rain from Friday to Saturday, but from then on no rain in sight with temperatures rising to the high 70s low 80s.