Big Rig Turnover
Sadly two people ended up with injury after they were ejected from a big rig crash. According to the California Highway Patrol (CHP) The truck ended up rolling over on northbound Interstate Highway 880.
According to the California Highway Patrol, Officers came to the crash scene just before 4:30 in the morning. The crash happened in the area of the Fifth Avenue. The incident happened after a big rig driver lost control of his truck after going through standing water. The driver struck another big rig and then a Ford Mustang then overturned.
There was a sixty-six year old man driving the overturned big rig as well as a female passenger were tragically ejected from the truck and fell about 40 foot from the off-ramp.
Man Wrecks Big Rig Truck
The man sadly suffered from injuries. Luckily, the woman’s injuries were minor. The far right lane of the highway had to be closed down for a little while so that the crews could try to get the big rig set upright and clean up the scene of the crash.
Dense Fog Causes Big Rig Crash
Foggy mornings can be rough on any commute. Big Rig drivers have a rough job, they drive long hours and in the most un-fun weather/road conditions.
Tuesday morning there was a dense fog that set in on Highway 198. The visibility dropped to 50 feet. The air soon filled with the sound of screeching breaks then the sound of a crash.
There were at least 40 vehicles involved in the chain reaction crash. Luckily there were no fatalities.
According to the California Highway Patrol, there were however, twelve people who suffered from minor to moderate injuries. Those who were uninjured were taken to the civic center in Hanford.
Fog in California from Wikipedia
Fog is a common weather phenomenon in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as along the entire coastline of California extending south to the northwest coast of the Baja Peninsula. The frequency of fog and low-lying stratus clouds is due to a combination of factors particular to the region.
There are several different types of Fog.
The Pacific Ocean contributes to the frequency of fog by providing atmospheric moisture and by its temperature. It is also the major source of nuclei for the condensation of moisture from vapor into cloud droplets. Moisture evaporated from the ocean surface over hundreds, even thousands of miles of the open Pacific is carried to California from various directions. This water vapor contributes to the development of what is called a marine layer near the surface of the ocean.
Land-sea temperature gradient
The prevailing wind along the California coast is from the northwest owing to the normal location of the North Pacific High, a large area of high atmospheric pressure. As the coastline is oriented from northwest to southeast, the marine layer and any clouds present within it would be confined to the coast and adjacent offshore waters, and often are, but for the large difference in temperature between the coastal waters and the inland valleys, especially the Central Valley. In the summer, inland temperatures can soar as high as 100 °F (38 °C). This large difference creates a strong pressure gradient that turns the prevailing northwest flow to a westerly and even southwesterly direction near the coastline, driving the marine layer and its clouds onshore and through any gaps in the Coast Ranges.
Other Variations
A land-sea temperature-pressure gradient is not always necessary to drive the marine layer and low clouds onshore into the Bay Area. Winds ahead of an approaching cold front or low pressure system can also draw the marine layer onshore.
Another pattern variation occurs in connection with heat spells that reach the coast from inland. Such heat waves typically occur when an area of high atmospheric pressure orients itself in such a way that the northerly to northeasterly gradient becomes dominant, driving the marine layer out to sea south and west of the California coast. These spells typically end with what is called a “southerly surge”, when the northerly gradient relaxes, allowing the marine layer to “slosh back” up the coastline.
Yet another variation occurs when the upper air becomes turbulent. Turbulence above the marine layer inversion can, depending on its severity, break up the marine layer. The most common causes of such turbulence are strong upper level low pressure areas, or the monsoon which occasionally extends northwestward from the desert areas of the U.S.
There are also occasional extended spells when fog and stratus (“overcast”) do not clear all the way back to the coast for several days. These extended periods of cloudiness are usually a consequence of a weak area of low pressure above the marine layer which increases its depth, making it more difficult for surface heating to evaporate the clouds within it.
Daniel A. Gibalevich
Law Offices of Daniel A. Gibalevich
