Discussion»Questions»Transportation» We hear a report wher there is fog and visibility is less than two mile for example. So, do I need to see farther than that?
Well, you can do what I did many years ago when I was driving over a treacherous mountain pass with deadly drop off's on both sides of the road. It was at nighttime in fog so heavy I could not see the road in front of my vehicle. The vehicle lights went out and I had four children in the back. Unable to see the side of the road because it didn't exist at the top of the mountain(I had driven the route before); I held the car door open (so I could see the white line in the road) with one hand and the steering wheel with the other. As long as I could see the white line we were safe and we made it over the pass, thankfully, pulled into the first gas station where my car immediately died. Thank you Jesus, again. : ) It was not a short drive, there may have been a shoulder at some point but in the heavy fog it was invisible. Which is a good thing, had I pulled over we may have become stuck on the mountain.
Have had a few harrowing driving experiences in my lifetime, but they all have different stories. This one was the scariest for sure.
This post was edited by Art Lover at April 22, 2024 4:56 PM MDT
Aircraft pilots and train drivers might find such a range helpful. Two miles is a very small distance in flying, and if you driving a train at 90-odd miles per hour the further ahead you can see the better! (Though the drivers are still expected to keep to time even in thick fog on a moonless night when as one graphically told me, you can barely see the rails in front of you but are still doing 120.)
Two miles is not ever so far at sea, either. The offshore-area part of the Shipping Forecast for the seas around the British Isles gives: Area(s) wind direction and force, precipitation conditions and an approximation of visibility.
E.g. "Wight, Portland, Plymouth. South to South-West. 3 to 4. Fair. Good." That patch covers about half of the English Channel.
It can sound a bit odd when the weather's bad: "South-West 6 gusting to Gale Force 7. Showers. Good."
The inshore and weather-station reports' greater detail includes visibility in Nautical Miles. I don't know how that is measured by the automatic weather-stations.
Just as typed that, at approaching 11pm, I heard rain pattering on the window.... So went and looked out of an upstairs window from which I can usually see part of the landmass giving the sea-area name. (The original one, not the Massachusetts one!)
"Portland. South to SouthWest 4 to 5, Rain, One mile".
Art Lover 