Inversions

Since we live in a valley surrounded by mountains, we frequently have inversions in the winter. When an inversion is going on, we have a thick blanket of fog, freezing fog, or smog covering the valley. When we go up into the mountains, the air is fresh and clean and the sun is out. Inversions are made when the air farther from earth is warmer than the air close up. The mountains keep out the wind, which keeps fog and pollution cupped in the valley. The sun can’t break through the smog, and the air quality goes way down. The warm air is like a cap that is keeping the cooler air near the earth. This is a picture of an inversion taken from Big Mountain. The light part in the middle is the cloud deck covering the valley where we live.

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