Late July is usually the foggiest time of year in San Francisco. As the rest of the country bakes in summer heat, a cold Alaskan current cruises down the Pacific Coast and sends cool air and clouds through the Golden Gate, over The City and into San Francisco Bay. Most days in the middle of summer, we have fog in the morning, blue skies with some wispy clouds in the afternoon, then the fog comes racing in back full force in the evening. Sometimes it can be quite chilly. As an example, the record high temperature for July 24 is 78° F. Average is 67° F. For tourists who aren’t expecting the fog, it can be quite a shock. Imagine you’ve been touring the U.S. and visited Las Vegas and Los Angeles and then you come here. Most years, vendors at Fisherman’s Wharf do a brisk business selling sweatshirts and hoodies with San Francisco designs to tourists freezing their shorts off. This year we’ve had plenty of fog but the sweatshirt and hoodie business is far less brisk.
I like the fog. It keeps the temperatures moderate, the air clean, and makes some really cool designs in the sky as it settles over the streets of The City. I don’t like it when it’s so dense you don’t see the sun for days. And some days the urban streets can be a bit of a drag. In the summer I find myself longing for a camping trip or a weekend wine country getaway but then I remember how uncomfortably hot and crowded some of those places can be in the peak of summer. Most days I am very content to chase the fog with my camera through the now not-so-crowded streets.