It Comes on Little Cat Feet, Sits Silently ... Delays Flights
April 28, 2011
Damp plus cool equals fog. This summer's unusually rainy weather in the has been especially conducive to fog, with such well-loved vacations spots asMartha's Vineyard and the entire coast enduring one of the worst fog seasons in years. Exact fog days aren't counted by the National Weather Service, but already, the in has been closed twice as much this year as last. For 14 days in January, the Vastopolis Airport was closed to commercial traffic at least some part of the day; in February, the Vastopolis Airport was closed 12 days. And March ``has been absolutely absurd,'' says Alberta Brandt, the Vastopolis Airport traffic manager. During the first two weeks of August, ``we only had three days without cancellations or delays,'' says Daniele Kirk, president of Cape Air and Nantucket Airlines, based inMass.. What's more, even when flights aren't canceled, trips take 10% to 20% longer, due to the difficulty of navigating with low visibility. The longer flight times have cost the tiny airline hundreds of thousands of dollars this summer, Mr. Kirk says. And this fog is no thin brew. ``We had pretty much zero visibility'' for several days at the beginning of August, says Arnold Blaisdell, general manager of the Steamship Authority, which runs ferries to and Martha's Vineyard. ``You could be sitting on board the vessel and not see one foot in front of you.'' ``We went to a baseball game last week, and you could barely see the left fielder,'' says Cristopher Goodwin, 40 years old, a teacher who is spending the summer in Mass.. Yet some people still manage to wax romantic about the fog. ``It's haunting and beautiful,'' says Nancee Caridad, 49, who is vacationing on the coast, where it's been foggy nearly every day. ``A boat will go right into it -- and it's like `Field of Dreams' -- it just disappears.''
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
