42-52-2013 – October Inversion Invasion

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October 19, 2013 – 42 weeks! Wow! Only ten weeks left in the year. Chew on that one!

Vancouver sometimes gets these cool high pressure systems that move in and cause a temperature inversion. The downside is that when it happens during the Fall and Winter it leaves us under a blanket of fog for days. It’s only been three or four days so far though, a long ways off of our record a number of years back when we were living inside a pillow for 19 days straight.

I’ve always loved fog. When I was young and the fog would form, I would often go for a walk and find a large field. I loved to stand in the middle, completely isolated from the world. I could hear things int he distance, but couldn’t see anything. Not even a tree. It was the most wonderful feeling of solitude.

The fog I grew up with was different than the fog here on the Coast though. Back home the fog was fragile. Conditions had to be perfect and the slightest wind would break it into shreds and cause it to dissipate. When the sun came up it would burn into the murk and cause it to melt away like magic.

But here, here it is a force unto itself. Coastal fog forms over the water and oozes in and out. If it is thick and strong enough it creeps into town, through the streets, and sometimes even up and over the hills. It has life. It has motion. And winds only serve to give it added movement. Coastal fog has an extended lifespan, it can roam around for weeks. Only a new frontal system usually has the capacity to disrupt its power.

Today I’d have happily stayed in bed all day nursing my cold. But we had committed to putting in our work hours at the yacht club and since we totally forgot our last hours in the Spring, we figured we should make a point of showing up this time. On the flip side, how often does one get to spend the day outside painting. . . in October?

Usually October has us feeling like we are underwater, so if we can’t have sun, at least we aren’t drowning. I’ll take a few days of fog, as long as I am safe on land and not lost in it out on the waters.