Marine Layer

My total experience of being on the west coast consist of 3 days 28 years ago. My time on the coast has been primarily the Gulf off the Florida coast. I had expected warm sand, warm days, blue skies and beautiful sunsets. August in Pismo Beach was not what I had anticipated. There is this thing call the Marine Layer. The Marine Layer is a thick blanket of fog that moves inland when the temperatures in the valley (east of us) exceed 100 degrees. This happens almost the entire month of August. Unlike of typical fog which burns off, the Marine Layer does not burn, it moves and it moves very slowly.

Because of this layer, the temperature in Pismo during August remains in the low sixties. Not at all my expectations of a beach town in August.

The first weekend as we sat in the living room watching a movie I glanced out the window, the Marine Layer was rolling in. We could no longer see past the fronts of the houses across the street. As we looked up the block we could see the fog rolling in, it was a bit freaky. It was moving in and engulfing everything around it. Every day was the same. If it was clear early, it would not last long. Some days it looked like fog other days it was so thick causing the sky to be so dark it looked as if a thunderstorm was moving in. By the end of August the Marine Layer would move farther and farther off shore. As September approached the days became more and more clear. There was landscapes, shore lines and mountain ranges that we had not been able to see. After four weeks of living in the foggy, gloomy, cool beach town, September opened up and we discovered new views and sunsets…all from our new front porch.

 

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