What the app shows you
Full FogCast score, fog type, chase-or-skip verdict, and 10-day outlook — all in the app.
Get LightCast Suite on iOS
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 StorePfeiffer Beach in Big Sur is one of California's most dramatic coastal photography locations — a narrow purple-sand beach flanked by sea stacks, with Keyhole Arch at the south end that frames the Pacific through a natural rock opening. Marine fog in Big Sur arrives with particular ferocity, driven by the Santa Lucia Mountains channeling Pacific air and the cold offshore upwelling. When fog layers sit at 100 to 200 meters and the sea stacks pierce above it, the visual effect is otherworldly.
Keyhole Arch is the focal point of most Pfeiffer Beach photography, and fog elevates it from scenic to spectacular by adding depth, softness, and mood to the rock formations. The purple sand — coloured by manganese garnet in the creek sediment — reads especially richly in the diffuse light of a foggy morning. The short walk down the sycamore-lined creek from the parking area is itself beautiful in morning mist. May through August is the reliable marine fog window. The beach faces due west, making it ideal for foggy sunsets as well as foggy dawns.
Pfeiffer Beach fog is part of the larger Big Sur marine layer pattern. The Santa Lucia ridgeline blocks fog from moving inland but channels moisture along the coast. When the marine layer base is at or below 150 meters and northwest winds are light to calm, fog streams through every gap in the sea stacks and moves across the beach at low level. A dew point gap of less than 2°C at the beach by midnight almost guarantees a foggy sunrise.