Every winter — particularly in January and February — without fail, Seattle has a flirtatious affair with the fog. Usually, the fog will roll in from the Pacific Ocean and Puget Sound early in the morning and dissipate before midday. During the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend of January 15th, 16th, and 17th, a very extensive and vast blanket of fog rolled in (as usual), but this time (unusually) its enigmatic presence extended its welcome and literally hovered above the entire city without dissipation. Essentially, the fog casually invaded and made itself at home on top of metropolitan area for a prolonged period.
Anywhere on Earth, it is evident that Mother Nature will always have her way and final say.
As a result, our long-distance visibility was curtailed significantly, and the cold temperatures were sustained for most of the holiday weekend. Nevertheless, several photographers (such as yours truly) had an elongated opportunity to document the occasion in which Seattle was submerged in low-lying clouds for more than 24 consecutive hours, succeeded by intermittent periods of submergence.
Without a doubt, I am always enthralled by urban landscape photography, especially at night, so when the sun departed on Saturday evening — while the thick, slow-moving fog remained — the tranquil mood and muted ambiance of the city changed profoundly. I would opine that the darker the sky became, the more eerie and mysterious the Emerald City became — and I loved every minute of capturing this seemingly unsettling setting with my camera gear in tow!
Alas, please enjoy a collection of my favorite photographs from Seattle’s first major flirtation with the fog in 2022, in addition to several images in which you can manually compare what the scene typically looks like to its otherworldly transformation by the fog.
Views from Smith Tower Observatory
State Route 99 & Alaskan Way Exchange, Downtown Seattle
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Harbor Island & Port of Seattle
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Downtown Seattle & Space Needle
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Thanks for visiting!
You can enjoy more images of Seattle in the fog in my “Fog Affair” gallery on my official website!
The fog can be both eerie (in the evening photos) and beautiful when little bits of colour from lights poke through. Lovely.
Definitely. Lingering fog changes the landscape into something that’s atypical, unusual, and worthy of photographing all the time. Thanks!