Sydney blanketed in thick fog, commuters disrupted

3 months ago 20

Sydney commuters have woken to find a blanket of heavy fog over the city, which has cancelled ferry services and led to calls for extra caution on roads, before it is expected to clear on Tuesday morning, giving way to a bright, mostly sunny day.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Dean Narramore said visibility could be as low as 50 metres in some parts of Sydney on Tuesday morning.

Fog blankets the Sydney CBD on Tuesday morning.

“We saw fog develop along our western and southern suburbs, a few hours after sunset yesterday,” he said, adding yesterday’s showers and a lack of wind overnight had created the perfect conditions for thick, widespread fog.

“That just continued to expand overnight and early this morning, and now thick fog is covering all across much of the Sydney Harbor out through the airport.”

No Sydney ferries were running at 6am because of the heavy fog, Transport for NSW advised this morning, but ferries east of the Harbour Bridge resumed about 6.30am as fog began to lift.

Ferry services west of the bridge including F3 services to Parramatta, and F4 services to Pyrmont Bay were still affected, with passengers advised to make alternative arrangements or catch a bus instead.

The sun rises as a heavy blanket of fog covers the Sydney CBD on Tuesday morning.

Transport Management Centre spokesman John Pearson said the situation remained “variable”, with many roads affected as well. “Our appeal to drivers is to slow down and drive to the conditions,” he said.

Weatherzone meteorologist Aline Ribeiro said Tuesday morning’s fog was “really dense”. “It’s really easy for this to develop when you have a high-pressure system and a cold weather front,” she said, adding Tuesday’s conditions settled conditions and only light winds increased the chances for early morning fog.

Ribeiro said the fog would clear about 9am when temperatures reached about 15 or 16 degrees, but while temperatures remained around 10 degrees and humidity remained high, at 98 per cent early on Tuesday morning, the fog would linger.

Ribeiro said coastal roads would likely experience hazardous conditions. No fog is expected for Wednesday. After Tuesday morning’s fog clears, Sydney is forecast to experience a mostly sunny day, with a high of 21 degrees, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Weather is considered fog when the concentration of water droplets in the area means visibility is less than one kilometre. Tuesday morning’s fog comes after fog in June also saw ferry services cancelled and a road weather alert issued for all of Sydney.

The bureau also had a hazardous surf warning in place for much of the NSW coast on Tuesday, impacting rock fishing, boating, and swimming across the Sydney coast.