4 ms·
A professor in atmospheric sciences at the U of Utah has a great blog and has been writing a lot about the inversions lately: http://wasatchweatherweenies.blog
by regehr 14y ago
A professor in atmospheric sciences at the U of Utah has a great blog and has been writing a lot about the inversions lately:
http://wasatchweatherweenies.blogspot.com/ http://wasatchweatherweenies.blogspot.com/
I live in SLC. The air is indeed pretty ugly right now. On the other hand, my house is a few hundred feet higher than the valley floor and is mostly above the inversion.
- seanmcdirmid 14y agoDefinitely helps to live in the foothills or on a mountain somewhere. Going to the U of Utah, it was a decent option.
- regehr 14y agoTo give a few more details, an inversion is where there's a layer of air where it gets warmer instead of colder as you go up. For example, last night at the SLC airport it was 4 degrees F whereas at the top of one of the 11,000 foot peaks near Snowbird it was 34 degrees F. When we're in a high pressure system (i.e. nice weather) and solar heating is limited due to low sun angle and snow on the ground, this situation is stable. It happens in many valleys in the western US. This becomes a problem in a few specific valleys where a lot of people live (and drive cars). Usually we get a few weeks of this every winter.