A thick fog has descended upon the Morongo Basin. High humidity over the last few days and intermittent showers since Wednesday (December 31) has led to a fog that has reduced visibility throughout our community. The fog is predicted to remain in our area throughout the morning, with cloudy conditions continuing throughout the morning.
With extremely low visibility, our dangerous desert highways are even more precarious. There were at least four major collisions in the Morongo Basin on January 1.
If you must drive in foggy conditions, the National Weather Service provides the following tips:
- Slow down and allow extra time to reach your destination.
- Make your vehicle visible to others both ahead of you and behind you by using your low-beam headlights since this means your taillights will also be on. Use fog lights if you have them.
- Do not use your high-beam lights. Using high beam lights causes glare, making it more difficult for you to see what’s ahead of you on the road.
- Leave plenty of distance between you and the vehicle in front of you to account for sudden stops or changes in the traffic pattern.
- To ensure you are staying in the proper lane, follow the lines on the road with your eyes.
In extremely dense fog where visibility is near zero, the best course of action is to first turn on your hazard lights, then simply pull into a safe location such as a parking lot of a local business and stop.
