Fog covers the Willamette Valley in Oregon

Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features the Willamette Valley filled up with fog. The valley contains an abundance of farms and orchards, hundreds of wineries, and is home to 70 percent of Oregon’s population. 

“Fog is common in the region in the autumn and winter, as moist Pacific air moves inland, cools, and sinks into the vast valley between the Cascade Mountains and the Oregon Coast Range,” reports NASA.

“As that air gives up its heat to the upper atmosphere, the layer near the surface becomes saturated and essentially forms clouds at ground level.”

“Such fog has been locked in the Willamette Valley for several long stretches in January and February 2022 due to temperature inversions, where warm air high in the atmosphere moved in over the cooler, denser air in the lowlands.”

The image of Willamette Valley was captured by the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on Landsat 9.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory 

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer