California, 2018

Dense Fog in California, December 6 to 7, 2018

December 6 to 7, 2018 · NWS VEF · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

Rain on December 6th followed by clearing skies and colder temperatures led to patchy dense fog around the Mojave Desert and Owens Valley.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
2

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS VEF wrote it up.

Rain on December 6th followed by clearing skies and colder temperatures led to patchy dense fog around the Mojave Desert and Owens Valley.

What forecasters said that day

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 Las Vegas, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 6, 7:47 PM PST, 2 hours 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 6, 7:47 PM PST, 2 hours 3 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.

Dense Fog, Morongo Basin

When
December 6, 9:50 PM PST to December 7, 5:00 AM PST
Where
Morongo Basin forecast zone
Reported by
Amateur Radio
Coordinates
34.841, -116.178 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Several ham radio operators reported dense fog with visibility less than a quarter mile in Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley.

Dense Fog, Owens Valley

When
December 7, 6:11 AM PST to 8:00 AM PST
Where
Owens Valley forecast zone
Reported by
Law Enforcement

Dense fog affected Highway 395 between Klondike Road and Big Pine.

What these are

Dense Fog
Fog reducing visibility to a quarter mile or less, filed where it caused accidents or disruption.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 2018

Sources

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: 790839, 790840.