12/18 Weird "Smoke" on Highway I-5, "The Grapevine" section of Interstate

Interstate highway I-5 heads north through a scenic mountain area between the town of Santa Clarita, which is northwest of Los Angeles, and the small town of Grapevine, California.  In fact, that stretch of highway is often called "The Grapevine" and has a reputation for being a bit scary to drive because of the curves and the steepness as it goes over Tejon Pass at a bit over 4,000 feet. 

My day today started out in sunny and reasonably warm San Diego.  As I was driving down the part of the highway after the Tejon Pass and just before the mountains gave way to the flatlands of the California Central Valley, I saw some strange-looking smoke in the distance.   

Since I was stuck a few years on a more southerly section of I-5 by a forest fire, I was a little concerned when I saw the "smoke" in the distance.  I grabbed my camera out of my front console and took a series of photos out of my front window as I was driving.  This did not look good, especially since there are no side roads in this section of highway to use to escape as I did from the previous forest fire highway backup and closure.

 

 

The closer I got, the more smoke I saw.  Not good. 

 

 

At this point, the road and sky is completely covered with smoke.  

 

 

Not getting any better, but I could see the valley in the distance. 

 

 

Almost out of the mountains.

 

 

Whew!  As I got into the valley, I realized that what I thought was smoke, was just weather.  Obviously, the valley and parts south of the Grapevine were just having a cloudy, potentially rainy day! 

 

 

Nice to just see clouds instead of a big fire that could have blocked the highway!  However, I will miss the sunshine and warm weather of southern California that I have enjoyed for the past two weeks. 

 Note: I will be visiting with family for the next few days, so will most likely not be posting until after the first of 2025.  Happy Holidays and New Year to all my readers!