January 2, 2015 – When the cold weather comes to visit Vancouver, it often brings a temperature inversion along with it. While the freezing temperatures bring frost, and possibly snow, those temperature inversions often bring fog that can extend all the way across the Georgia Strait and they can hang around for days.
The longest stretch I remember was 19 days through January and February.
That can get very oppressive!
Two years ago when we moved up the hill a bit we ended up moving to an elevation that seems to be just on the fringe of the inversion zone and so we are more often above the fog than in it.
When the fog hangs around for days on end, many Vancouverites will take a drive up to the local mountains, like Cypress, and get above the fog for a sunshine fix.
Yesterday we woke to sunshine, but as the morning wore on the fog crept further up the hill and we were stuck in it, so we took a drive up Cypress to see its pillow effect across the Lower Mainland. No disappointment there. Sometimes you can see the tallest buildings above the fog layer, but not so much today. There were a few tiny holes where one or two buildings downtown could be seen, and Burnaby was faring a little better off in the distance.
By late in the day it had pulled back out from the city and gave residents a pretty end to the day. The last wisps still clung to the city skyline, but it was a lovely sunset over Burrard Inlet.
The last dregs of the fog hang mysteriously over the city of Vancouver
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Sue