Boise has experienced 29 days with fog since the new year started, including 14 days when visibility was a quarter mile or less, according to the National Weather Service.
Dense fog rolled in Saturday night, with visibility dropping below a quarter mile. The airport was shut down at about 7:30 p.m., after a small plane missed the runway.
Airport spokeswoman Patti Miller said the plane was a Cessna Citation. She did not know where it came from, or who was piloting the plane. “They were able to get all wheels down, then it went onto its nose,” Miller said. The two adult occupants “were fortunate they didn’t have anything more than bruising.”
Only one of the two runways is used during dense fog, so when the crash occurred off that runway, all flights had to be stopped.
The airport reopened about 11:15 p.m. Saturday.
Why has it been so foggy in Boise this winter?
First, there’s a lot of moisture in the Valley from snow, sleet and rain over the past several weeks. The air is saturated, said Boise-based meteorologist Steve Parker.
Second, cold air can’t hold as much moisture as warm air. So when temperatures drop, moisture condenses into cloud droplets that form fog. Parker said inversion conditions have set up again.
A couple of semitrailers slid on ice on U.S. 95 at milepost 15 near Marsing just before 8:30 a.m. Sunday. An Idaho State Police trooper who responded to the scene said visibility was down to about 50 feet, an ISP dispatcher said.
One of the semitrailers that slid was a 2013 Kenworth traveling north, driven by Juan Iniguez, 44, of Madera, Calif., police say. The vehicle jack-knifed, blocking both the north and south lanes. Neither Iniquez nor his passenger, Pablin Bravo-Torres, 45, of Fowler, Calif., was injured.
The highway was closed for about three hours while the crash was cleared from the road.
The visibility at the Boise Airport at 11:15 a.m. Sunday was 2 miles but improve in the afternoon.
Highs this week will be in the low 40s, with overnight lows in the 20s. Mornings will be foggy, but sun is expected to burn it off.
Katy Moeller: 377-6413
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