The source of dense tule fog and the factors that are causing people in California's great Central Valley to see a little less of it.
is the root from which Tulare Lake, Tulare County and the town of Tulare derive their names. A tulare is a tule marsh. But Tulare Lake, once one of the largest lakes in the West, has dried up because the streams and rivers that fed it were diverted and the water is used for agriculture and municipalities.
To say something is “out in the tules” is a common expression roughly equivalent to “out in the boondocks.”The Central Valley’s thick tule fog is a type of radiation fog that forms on calm, clear nights, usually after a soaking rain, when the Earth gives up its heat — radiates its heat like a radiator — into space. Note that this happens on clear, starry nights, not when there’s cloud cover forming a cozy blanket that holds in the planet’s warmth.
3. As air near the ground cools to the dew point, or saturation point, moisture condenses around minuscule particles of dust, pollen or pollutants , forming tiny droplets of water that make up the fog, which is simply a cloud near the ground.4. As the fog layer deepens, the ground is blanketed and no longer radiates heat directly into space. But radiational cooling continues at the top of the fog layer, causing it to grow thicker and deeper.
Agriculture in the Central Valley, which accounts for 95% of U.S. fruit and nut production, also depends on the winter chill to promote the proper development of buds, flowers and fruit. To achieve high yields, fruit trees need the sustained periods with temperatures below about 44 degrees Fahrenheit during prolonged periods of tule fog.
Pollution becomes a factor in fog formation because soot, dust and vehicle exhaust provide the tiny airborne particles, or condensation nuclei, around which water vapor condenses to form clouds, fog and haze.
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