Newell Had It Right, Just Slow Down.

Yesterday predawn, Captain Hylton was driving us down to Shell Beach to fish again when we ran into some dense fog PATCHES.  Visibilities would bounce from 1/4 mile to only a few hundred feet & back up again.  Captain Petit slowed down in the dense fog, at times only going 30 mph in a 55 mph zone.  We made it with no problem and were in his boat when the alert hit our phones about the deadly car crash.  How could so many vehicles keep crashing into one another?   In simplest words, SPEED KILLS and Newel Normand had it right during this morning's program on WWL Radio when he said. "Folks, slow down."

The photos are stunning and thankfully only 7 have died seeing such massive carnage.  This "Super Fog" was not predicted in advance and here's why.

These pictures are from today, but the same views apply to yesterday.  NWS called for dense fog, but it wasn't the fog itself that made it "super".  It was the fog combining with a smoke plume from a marsh fire that lowered visibility to zero.  Note how the plume widens out the farther away from the fire (Orange circle).  The nature of fog is often patchy, but once into that fog bank, it lasted for over a mile until visibilities improved once beyond the plume.  Bottom line, when visibilities are restricted (rain, snow, fog) you MUST slow down and hope others do the same.

Weather wise, there is a deep upper trough over the West (Cold) with a upper ridge over the Southeast (warmth).  That won't change before next week so it'll stay summer like here.  The good news is some rain is falling over the Plains.

Unfortunately, we'll stay dry.  However, winds should stay elevated overnight so dense fog should not happen over the next several days.

It doesn't mean there will be no fog patches.  As yesterday showed me, fog can look pretty, but it also can be deadly.  Prayers for all the victims & their families.  Stay tuned!