Know before you drive: FogCast checks the conditions that produce photogenic fog
Get more than a snapshot of current conditions. The LightCast app unlocks everything to plan ahead
Humidity alone isn't enough. Wind alone isn't enough. Cloud cover alone isn't enough. Photogenic valley fog requires several conditions to line up at once, and most weather apps don't read them together.
Set a FogCast threshold once. The app will alert you when conditions at your saved locations look promising, so you're not manually checking at 4am.
Don't waste a sunrise drive. Check FogCast before you leave.
Download on the App StoreBandon is a small coastal town on the central Oregon coast at the mouth of the Coquille River, and its beach is one of the most spectacular sea stack fields in the Pacific Northwest. Face Rock, Elephant Rock, Table Rock, and dozens of smaller stacks and monoliths are scattered across a wide, sandy beach facing west — conditions that are ideal for low-tide fog photography at sunrise. When Pacific marine fog rolls onshore overnight, the sea stacks emerge from the mist as dark silhouettes at dawn, and the reflections in the wet sand at low tide double the effect.
Face Rock State Scenic Viewpoint and the beach access points north and south of town are the primary fog photography locations. The beach is wide and flat at low tide, and positioning among the sea stacks with the fog as background gives enormous compositional flexibility. Summer is the most reliable fog season — June through August sees marine fog on many mornings, typically arriving overnight and clearing by 10 to 11am. The combination of a very low tide with morning fog is the ideal scenario.
Bandon's sea stack beach faces west with minimal inland obstruction, which means marine fog banks can roll directly onto the beach without being broken by headlands or cliffs. When offshore fog is present at 10pm the evening before, Bandon beach is almost certainly foggy at dawn. Low tide tables should be checked alongside fog forecasts — a minus tide combined with thick marine fog is the rarest and most rewarding combination at Bandon.