Spooky

An Extra Foggy Day

Does anyone else wonder why the ancient calendar makers decided to put Leap Day in February instead of in - oh, any of those lazy Summer months?  But, February?  Isn't winter - even a mild one like we've had - already long enough?    

In a Fog

We don't usually see such heavy fog in the summer. Early Spring, yes. Autumn, yes. Summer, not so much.

However, on Tuesday, the cool Lake Michigan water temperature (around 65 degrees Fahrenheit) reacted with the extremely warm air temperature (92 with a heat index closing in on 100) to create a wall of fog around the city's lakefront. It only went in a few blocks from the lake. The fog was thick enough that all the beaches were closed to swimming. People could go to the beach but couldn't go in the water because the fog was so dense that the life guards couldn't see that far.

Blustery Spring

I actually took this photo about a week and a half ago. Then we had some beautiful sunny days so it just seemed out of place to post it. But we're back to foggy, rainy, unseasonably cold Spring so here it is. (You know it's bad when the television meteorologist and traffic person both say "Oh just stay home today.")

Fog Attack

Autumn in Chicago means the fog can attack at any moment. This attack came with at 15 degree drop in temperature!

There are usually more buildings

visible in the skyline.

What happened to Lake Shore Drive?

The fog was still rolling through

(rather quickly)

at sunset.

Fog Rolls In ...

Time to quote Carl Sandburg again:

"The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over the harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on."

I wasn't going to post another sunrise series (since I posted one on Sunday) but this morning's sunrise was pretty cool. Along with the sun came a fog bank rolling in from the North. First it looked (to me) like sand dunes taking over the lake and Navy Pier. In the last one it almost looks like a giant wave crashing over a tiny Navy Pier sand castle.

To see a winter Fog Attack that I posted a while ago: Click here

A Day Only a Boater Would Love

No, my camera lens does not need a good cleaning. ;)

This photo was one of the early bridge runs (when the Chicago Bridges are raised to allow the sailboats to get to the harbors from their winter storage homes) this year. However, since the

weather today looked almost exactly like this, I figured it was OK to post a slightly older (really only two weeks) photo.

Foggy Morning Fisherman

We've been having a lot of foggy lakefront mornings lately. This fisherman is heading home in the morning fog along the pier at Montrose Harbor.

Above the Clouds

Fog rolled in again this morning, blanketing parts of the lakefront. I've always found it an interesting perspective when the fog only covers the bottom half of the skyline - making it look like the buildings rise higher than the clouds (or, that these phantom buildings are floating around). Yes, this is the Chicago Skyline - a segment of it that you don't often see. I guess you can call it the New South Loop skyline. A lot of high rise buildings - offices and residential - have sprung up in the south Loop in the last several years.

Dark and Stormy Night

Lots of rain and wind in Chicago last night.
And, of course, fog.
The fog was lighter in the evening than
during the day when the fog made all the other buildings disappear.

Going ... Going ... Going ... Gone

Carl Sandburg wrote

"The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over the harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on."

Yesterday, however,

The fog came in
like a stampede.
It pounced on the lakefront
smothered the buildings
and then moved on.