I’ve been hearing mixed terminology in Southern California for what I would call “fog” back east – this term “the marine layer” is tossed around quite a bit; specifically around Playa Del Rey and Marina Del Rey where I currently reside. Calling the marine layer “fog” has been a big enough deal for people to correct me in line at Whole Foods.

On the way back from lunch with Fake Angeleno today, we saw what looked like a wall of smoke covering everything we could see west of Lincoln Blvd. It was surreal. We obviously had to drive into it, wondering if it was yet another fire burning or the famed “marine layer”. At 2:30pm PST in September, it was about 77 degrees out and a dense fog – correction – marine layer covered the Ballona Wetlands. (as I did a little research and it seems that there IS a difference between fog and the marine layer)

Here is what Wikipedia mentioned:

It is not unusual to hear media weather reporters discuss the marine layer as synonymous with the fog or stratus it may contain, but this is erroneous. In fact, a marine layer can exist with virtually no cloudiness of any kind, although it usually does contain some. The marine layer is a medium within which clouds may form under the right conditions, not the layers of clouds themselves.

Anyway, here is a shot that I snapped from the bluffs in Playa del Rey. Look closely where the sky meets the horizon – that stuff was thick!