Three years ago I wrote about an accident involving a pilot who became impatient waiting for a stratus layer to lift, and went out looking for a break (or its ambiguous cousin, a “thin spot”) through which he could climb to VFR on top. That accident took place in Los Angeles, and I described the condition known as “June gloom” that is all too familiar to non-instrument-rated area pilots:
Los Angeles is subject to a weather condition locally known as “June gloom.” It’s been explained to me a dozen times, but I can never get it straight. The ocean surface is warmed by the sun, or the land is cooled by the wind, or whales surface in the Catalina channel at night and yawn — whatever it is, the result is foggy, overcast mornings. Usually the stratus layer “burns off” by midday, leaving behind a hazy afternoon. The radio weather reports use the same phraseology each day to announce this monotonous phenomenon: “Early morning low clouds and fog along the coast, clearing by afternoon …” It’s like a prayer repeated by heart.
