Morning Fog

I've already been outside with the camera. Chilly, in PJs, and barefoot. Palm trees and cactus in the fog. Amazing. It's not that the pictures are so spectacular. It's the rarity. So rare, in fact, that the local weather centers use it as the reason for today's "Local Storm Report".

I further expect that it will be the excuse for dozens if not more highway crashes. I've gotten my Arizona drivers license. The process is a joke. Rather than actually checking vision, for example, I am asked on a form whether I think I need corrective lenses. No booklets are handed out to give you a chance to review rules of the road, seeing which may be different from last year or one's last state. So start with the fact that one can drive if one passes a mere 70% of the 20 or so questions asked in the first place, add that rechecks are never done, then throw all those folks out on the roads and never never stop them from driving a minimum of 10 mph over the posted speeds. Now add fog. (Or rain, dust storms, night, alcohol, any combination thereof. Doesn't matter.) Just for fun, throw in the extra million or so here for the Superbowl, the Waste Management Open, or just the escape from snow. 

The freeways are bad enough in a normal rush hour, weather-free. Six lanes each way including HOV and on-off ramps that extend the full way between exits should stay reasonably clear and speedy. You'd think so, anyway. Friday morning nearly the whole metro map was in red already by 6AM. Visibility was fine, if a little dark, but the freeways are well lit, even better so when you throw in headlights.

One can only wait to see how long it takes the fog to lift. The sun has officially been up over an hour, and the fog seems thicker than when I rose. I need to head out later for a haircut and to hit a UPS store, thankfully in the same strip mall. Also thankfully in the opposite direction from the Superbowl. I'm thinking I'm not in a big hurry to go play in traffic.

I might go shoot a few more fog pictures, however.  How many chances will there be? The palm trees a block over have disappeared. Cool!