Islands in the Clouds: A September Morning Over the Pacific Northwest

For several nights in a row, marine air flowed onshore over the Pacific Northwest, according to the National Weather Service, bringing with it low-level clouds known as marine stratus. Near the coast, the taller portions of Washington's Olympic Mountains and the Oregon Coast Range stood above the layer, protruding island-like out of a sea of cloud. NASA's Terra satellite, using the MODIS instrument, captured the extent of the region's cloudy cloak on September 19, 2026.