Vancouver Fog Photos – January 2026

Foghorns, temperature inversions, and uneasy views into the void of clouds where mountains should be in the distance. A fog has blanketed itself over parts of the region, Downtown Vancouver included, so I thought it would be a good time for some quick fog facts and photos.

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Foghorns, Temperature Inversion, Weather Alerts

Vancouver Fog Photos

Fog advisories continue across Metro Vancouver today and tomorrow. Environment Canada says: “Near zero visibility in fog continues over some areas. A ridge of high pressure over BC is trapping moisture near the surface creating areas of dense fog across Metro Vancouver, and especially near the Strait of Georgia, Burrard Inlet, Boundary Bay and the Fraser River. While visibility may improve in the afternoons, fog is expected to redevelop each night.”

Foghorns

Some important information about the fog in Vancouver, let’s start with the foghorns.

Vancouver has Canada’s largest port, and a lot of marine traffic. When visibility is low, by national and international regulation, the use of foghorns is mandatory for large vessels including container ships. Anchored vessels must sound their foghorns every minute, moving ships every two minutes.

Inversions

Temperature inversion is another element. When it’s foggy in the low-lying areas around the city, quite often it’s warm and sunny above the cloud. You can get some pretty epic views from the local mountains that will show a blanket of white with only the tops of the tallest buildings peeking above the layer.

A temperature inversion is a thin layer of the atmosphere where the normal decrease in temperature with height switches to the temperature increasing with height. An inversion acts like a lid, keeping normal convective overturning of the atmosphere from penetrating through the inversion. Right now it’s about 11C at Grouse Mountain, and 6C in the city, which isn’t as big a difference as previous years.

Colour-Coded Weather Alerts

Environment Canada began using colour-coded weather alerts in November, 2025. The colours tell you what risk the weather is to you. Every type of weather alert—Warnings, Advisories, and Watches—now has a colour when it is issued. The weather alert colours move from yellow, to orange, to red, as the potential risk increases. Metro Vancouver is currently under a Yellow Warning – Fog.

• Yellow
  • Hazardous weather may cause damage, disruption, or health impacts
  • Impacts are moderate, localized and/or short-term
  • Yellow alerts are the most common

• Orange
  • Severe weather is likely to cause significant damage, disruption, or health impacts
  • Impacts are major, widespread and/or may last a few days
  • Orange alerts are uncommon

• Red
  • Very dangerous and possibly life-threatening weather will cause extreme damage and disruption
  • Impacts are extensive, widespread, and prolonged
  • Red alerts are rare

According to the forecast, we should be out of the fog by Tuesday afternoon, which is a real shame since the aurora forecast is excellent for tonight.

Related: Vancouver Fog Photos and Videos (since 2013)