Clear skies, high humidity just inland from the coast, along with the radiational cooling allowed dense fog to form near the coast during the nights and early mornings of the 23rd and 25th. Drainage flow kept the fog within about 10 miles of the coast, with the exception of the inland, low area of Ramona.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS SGX wrote it up.
Clear skies, high humidity just inland from the coast, along with the radiational cooling allowed dense fog to form near the coast during the nights and early mornings of the 23rd and 25th. Drainage flow kept the fog within about 10 miles of the coast, with the exception of the inland, low area of Ramona. Multiple airports reported visibilities less than 1/4 mile for several hours on each of those mornings. The fog created some airport delays as well as security problems for the Border Patrol along the Mexican Border and along the coast up to San Clemente.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS San Diego, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 22, 9:30 PM PST, 3 hours earlier.
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.
Brown Field ASOS reported one-quarter mile visibility from 1253 to 0818 PST. Montgomery Field ASOS reported one-quarter mile visibility from 0253 to 0853 PST.
Fullerton Airport ASOS reported one-quarter mile visibility from 0253 to 0944 PST. John Wayne Airport ASOS reported one-quarter mile visibility from 0142 to 0900 PST. CHP reported 100 foot visibility on Marine Way near Irvine.
Carlsbad-Palomar Airport ASOS reported visibility of one-quarter mile or less from 2141 PST on the 24th to 1000 PST on the 25th. Brown Field ASOS reported visibility of one-quarter mile or less from 2053 PST on the 24th to 0921 PST on the 25th, except between 0123 and 0153 when the visibility briefly improved. Miramar Airport ASOS reported visibility of one-quarter mile or less from 2355 PST on the 24th to 0855 PST on the 25th, down to one-sixteenth of a mile between 0055 and 0736 PST on the 25th. Montgomery Field ASOS reported visibility of one-quarter mile or less from 1253 to 0838 PST on the 25th. A spotter in Allied Gardens reported visibility less than one-quarter mile around 0212 PST.
John Wayne Airport ASOS reported visibility of one-quarter mile from 0318 to 0949 PST. Fullerton Airport ASOS reported visibility of one-quarter mile or less from 0253 to 0927 PST.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in California, November 2012
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 418629, 418621, 418631, 418630.