Once a decade event fills the Grand Canyon with breathtaking fog

Once or twice a year, an inversion layer will push a small amount of fog into the Grand Canyon, slightly obscuring it. But far less frequently, maybe once a decade or so, the conditions will be perfect for the entire canyon to fill to the brim. That's what happened last Friday, as clear skies and perfect conditions lead to a rare full inversion, and the Grand Canyon was filled with a dense layer of fog.

With such a rare occurrence in an already picturesque location, people were soon out in force to photograph the event — photos which the Grand Canyon National Park has been sharing over Facebook. The incredible images show the immense canyon overflowing amidst a sea of fog. It renders the famous landscape totally obscured, but at the same time is still astonishingly beautiful.

Talking to the Daily Mail, Park Ranger Erin Whittaker said that smaller inversions happen annually, but that big ones like this were extremely rare. "Word spread like wildfire and most ran to the rim to photograph it. What a fantastic treat for all!" she told the paper.

Unfortunately, that means we're probably going to have to wait a long time to see such an occurrence again. Until then, we'll console ourselves by looking through the Facebook images of the inversion layer. And if any of our readers happened to be there at the time, we'd love to see any photos you snapped!

(via LaughingSquid)