FP Was A White-out

by Peter Natscher

By 6 pm, the Peak was a total white-out. When I arrive at 3pm, it was a beautiful summer day up there, 70°F, no wind--the only place that had sunshine for 50 mi. around. I could not see an distant peaks or landscapes I drove up the mount road. The encircling 3,000ft. level marine layer with thick fog stood off of the Peak until 5 pm and then it pounced. The westerly wind came in and drove the marine layer up and over the entire Peak. We couldn't see the Observatory from the SW Lot, or Coulter Row for that matter. The guys with the 22" Blue Sono-tube Dob at Coulter Row baled early since they were not seen when we walked by at 7 pm. I had spotted them upon my arrival at 3 pm. At times, the fog was so thick, we had trouble finding our way from the SW Lot to the Observatory Pads. We schmoozed in the SW Lot and over at the Pads for awhile to pass the time in waiting for it to clear. A threesome from Santa Cruz (Matt, et al.) were good company, along with Rob E., Jim B., and Jamie D. Sounds like a rapp group. Until our departure at 8 pm, we remained just 100 ft. or so shy of getting a decent evening. The marine layer only allowed us to see Pleiades style (nebulous, hazy) constellations with a Van Gogh touch. I might go out to the Peak during the week night to make up for this.

Posted on sf-bay-tac Mar 13, 2005 10:18:05 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Mar 13, 2005 13:33:35 PT