Valleywide : Distant Storms Keep Heavy Fog in Forecast

The San Fernando Valley should expect heavy morning fog today, but it probably will ease later in the week, the National Weather Service said Sunday.

The fog in the Valley in recent days is the result of small patches of low pressure that have allowed cold, moist ocean air into the area. It then has been trapped close to the ground by a high-pressure system that has hovered over the Valley, said Robert Baruffaldi, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard.

Baruffaldi said the low pressure has been caused by the storm systems that have been passing through Northern California. The low pressure systems have lasted only long enough to lift the cool ocean air over the coastal mountains and into the Valley, causing fog.

At Burbank Airport, visibility ranged from zero to a quarter of a mile on Sunday, National Weather Service spokesman Stuart Seto said.

Meanwhile, rain is not expected in Southern California.

“At least for right now, the overall global patterns seem to be keeping us dry,” Baruffaldi said. Most storms are hitting the Pacific Northwest and Northern California. “Unless something happens in that pattern that should shift storms into us, we will remain dry.”

For today, Van Nuys and Burbank are expected to have lows of 48 and highs of 75 degrees. The low temperature in Woodland Hills is expected to be 40, with a high of 76 degrees.