Any idea what this is?

[Cstok]

The vid is kina rough, but I am curious as to what this might be. I live basically on the ocean here in S. Cal, and have for the whole 39 years of my life, and I have never seen a marine layer or fog bank come on shore as this does.

Any ideas as to what this is?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAruvpQcRL8

 

[Kenny Drake]

A very thick layer of marine fog as you put it. Looks like a very shallow cold front moving over the ocean and towards land. The environment just above the fog was probably highly capped, maybe even a temperature inversion. Therefore, the fog had nowhere to go and was very very dense. That is REALLY cool though and almost looks like a squall line preceding a normal cold front, except in this case it was very shallow at the surface.

 

[Michael Thompson]

The Newcastle referred to is in Australia, just north of Sydney. SE wind changes are extremely common events when high pressure systems build into the Tasman Sea ( Pacific ) from the Southern Ocean.

My guess is this one occurred very early morning as there would have been some convection, even strato cumulus otherwise. The wind before the SE surge was offshore, an old surfer like me knows a glassy wave when i see one. You can also see that the top of the cloud is being sheared back at a very level, perhaps only 300m.

Another factor is that water temperatures in early December are not at their Summer max, probably around 17C at a guess.