Inversion: When Did I Move to LA?
Jan 24th, 2007 by Jeremy
Excuse me for a minute as I cough. You see my lungs are clogged with smog these days. I live in a valley, which in effect constitutes a big weather “bowl” because of the mountains surrounding us. Most of the year I look up at the mountains and smile with their beauty and grandeur. Right now I am more wishing for a nice wide valley that would funnel out the thick soup of smog along with the cold temperatures.
Remember me mentioning awhile back that it is was cold? Yup, cold temps are still here. Yeah, it’s winter so I should expect some cold, but what we are experiencing in these neck of the woods right now is artificially colder because of this inversion. If you have never lived where the effect takes place, you likely don’t know what it is. Here is the short version. A temperature inversion is an atmospheric condition where the temperature increases with height (or elevation). The warm air above traps the colder air below. Along with the colder air, the pollutants are not able to escape. The valleys of northern Utah are especially susceptible to this because it is surrounded by particularly tall mountains compared to the valley floor.
Here’s a great shot recently captured by a Salt Lake City amateur photographer that shows you exactly what I mean about the smog. Even though it is a clear day, the layer of smog (and cold temperature) is stuck right where we all live. Wonderful, eh?
Photo credit: Rich Legg, from Flickr
Nothing like the feeling of sucking on the tailpipe of my truck with every breath. See the nice shade of brown throughout that cloud of particulates? Mmmm, can’t you just taste it. Yes, this is the time of year when I could see living somewhere else. Not winter mind you, that I can enjoy, just the few weeks of inversion we normally get - which this year has been for a couple of months. Yuck.
So, in honor of the weather we have right now, I submit that the inversion definitely has gotta go!
Jeremy!! You poor thing. This makes me sad as I love those mountains and the beauty they provide. I fully support you in this gotta go post!! I didn’t realize that this happened to you guys out there. Yucky!!
I think I see my old house, well, if I could see through that muck. I returned to see family right in the thick of this soup and instantly I was happy I moved. I’m in a small town, a very small town now. No inversions here, but more importantly, less pollution.
Inversions are bad, but they are in no way the CAUSE for the smog hovering at eye level. The smog comes from the pollution that gets trapped in the inversion. That pollution is always there, it just gets blown into somebody else’s back yard every day. It should be a good eye-opener that we need to work harder to cut some of this mess.
If it’s cold that has to go, then the inversion is the correct target. If it’s the smog, then the pollution needs to go. I say we work on reducing the pollution, because the cold is not so bad.
No argument there Bryan - we definitely need to do something about the pollution output both by businesses and individuals. There is now “away” when it comes to pollution. Even though it may travel out of my backyard, it goes somewhere.