Daily Climate - Central Valley Fog, Key For Fruit Trees, Fades Away As California Withers
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While fog is hazardous, its disappearance is troublesome, Liu added. "The fog can be bad, but we desperately need the rain." The study, published last week by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, indicates a longer-term trend may be at work.
They tracked a 46 percent drop in the number of fog days in the region over the past 32 winters. Pairing NASA and U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite records with data from a network of University of California weather stations, the researchers were able to show that despite great year-to-year variability, the overall trend in fog is downward.
The paper was published in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.
The authors of the new study stress that the decline in winter tule fog raises a red flag for the state's multibillion dollar agricultural industry, since crops such as almonds, pistachios, cherries, apricots and peaches go through a necessary winter dormant period brought on and maintained by colder temperatures. The tule fog helps contribute to the winter chill. "The trees need this dormant time to rest so that they can later develop buds, flowers and fruit during the growing season," said study co-author Dennis Baldocchi, professor in UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management.
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http://www.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2014/05/tule-fog-decline