Fog can be friend or foe to Mainers Inland shops seeing increase in trade when beaches overcast

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CAMDEN – Fog happens.

And it’s been happening a lot, it seems, the first few weeks of summer in coastal Maine.

While blue skies and bright sun dominate the scene a few miles inland, a drive to Camden or Lincolnville Beach these days can put a family in the middle of a fog bank, obscuring the view of islands, sailboats, seals and the rest of what brings tourists here to spend their vacation dollars.

“We’ve had more than our share,” said Ken McKinley, a Camden-based meteorologist who provides forecasts for boaters.

But then he amended his statement, saying that the past few summers along the Maine coast actually have been atypical, with little or no fog.

This year is more like normal, McKinley believes.

Jim Donahue of the National Weather Service in Gray confirmed this week that recent weather patterns have made fog a regular visitor to the coast.

Typically, a batch of cool, dry air moves through Maine periodically and “cleans everything out,” he said, but this summer, those cleansings have been few and far between.

“We’re in a humid, southerly wind pattern,” Donahue said. “It just keeps coming out of the southwest.”

When that warm, humid air hits the cooler air sitting over Penobscot Bay, it precipitates into tiny droplets of water, creating fog.

The atmosphere acts like a fluid, Donahue said, so cool ocean air will flow along river valleys – such as the Goose River in Rockport and the Ducktrap River in Lincolnville – to direct fog to specific locations, while a mile away there is none.

Heather Mackey of the Camden-Rockport-Lincolnville Chamber of Commerce grew up in Maine, so the recent foggy days haven’t made much of an impression on her.

“I hadn’t noticed until just this week,” she said.

Boaters arriving in Camden Harbor have expressed concern about running into Maine’s legendary fog, she said, but locals haven’t talked as much about it.

Fog can be a foe to the windjammer fleet in Camden, Rockport and Rockland, particularly to those who operate day sailers, which are boats that offer cruises of several hours. Such businesses rely on impulse decisions of tourists, as opposed to the multiple-night cruises, which are usually booked in advance.

Capt. Ray Williamson of Camden-based Maine Windjammer Cruises – operator of the Grace Bailey, Mercantile and Mistress – said his schooners offer overnight trips, so the fog has not affected bookings.

Besides, he said, fog provides an interesting experience for visitors, he said, as the boat sails in and out of it.

But the fog can be a friend to other sectors of the tourist economy.

“I like fog,” said Bernice Berger, owner of the Once-A-Tree store in Camden.

Instead of finding beaches or driving to the top of Mount Battie, tourists hit the streets, she said.

“I don’t wish days and days of fog on anyone,” Berger said, but a few days here and there are decidedly good for business.

Bob Hastings, director of the Rockland-Thomaston Area Chamber of Commerce, comes from the Midwest, and so fog is a new factor in his efforts to develop the region’s tourism.

“It can be a very beautiful thing,” he said, describing a recent drive he and his wife took from their home in the Camden Hills, where the sun shone down along the peninsula that leads to Tenants Harbor, where fog ruled.

Instead of swimming, as they had planned, Hastings and his wife ate lobster at a roadside pound, he said.

“This kind of weather tends to drive people into restaurants and retail,” he said.

People are in the area, but they are not flocking to beaches, Hastings said.

“It’s the best of both worlds. It doesn’t get any better that ,” he said.

A different kind of report came from the Washington County coast.

“Fog? What fog?” asked Diane Tilton, director of the Sunrise County Economic Council in Machias, before betraying her facetiousness by adding, “If we have fog, we’re not talking about it.”

Tilton said a woman who works in her office recounted a fog-bound trip on a schooner out of Bar Harbor. Even though the boat was less than full, she said, the trip was moving, as the fog enhanced the sounds of birds and waves.

“We can capitalize on anything,” Tilton said, but added that fog and overcast skies probably help retail trade.

“It just moves the business around,” she said.

“We can capitalize on anything.”

Diane Tilton, director of the Sunrise County Economic Council, Machias