Article July 26, 2010 Issue

Fog and the redwoods it nurtures

BY CHANNING WALKER

THE GIGANTIC REDWOODS THAT tower over much of the Northern California coast are disappearing and may vanish entirely in the coming decades. For anyone who's hiked or biked or driven through redwood forests, this is a tragedy.

A morning amble through the woods—socked in by fog as they so often are—is wondrously renewing. Over the cool ocean waters, the fog forms. Then it's hauled ashore as inland air, which is warmer and drier, rises.

However, for some time now the ocean temperature along the coast has been warming. Less fog develops now. Researchers say there is about three hours less fog per day today than there was a century ago. Less fog means less shelter for the redwoods, shelter they apparently need in order to survive.

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