Inside Salt Lake City's dreary, dangerous smog dome

[rangerrebew]

Inside Salt Lake City's dreary, dangerous smog dome

How it's fighting a perennial pollution problem.
By Eleanor Cummins 1 hour ago
Salt Lake City

Welcome to Salt Lake City

Enjoy the fresh air!

 

In Salt Lake City, Utah, residents call winter "inversion season" for its tendency to bring on a strange weather condition: Snowstorms invert the usual trend of air getting colder as the altitude gets higher by cooling the ground, which leaves behind a layer of warm air high above the metropolis. An inversion creates a sort of atmospheric roof while the mountains surrounding the city act like walls, trapping pollution in place until another storm blows it away. The resulting “smog dome” lasts four days on average, but some have lingered almost three weeks. These periods aren’t just dreary; they’re dangerous. Here’s a peek into the dome.

http://www.popsci.com/salt-lake-city-smog-dome

[Joe Wooten]

Mexico City is worse, much, much worse.

[thackney]

Fairbanks Alaska has this problem.  Wildfires in the summer and wood heating in the winter.

[Oceander]

Mexico City is worse, much, much worse.

Yes it is.

[roamer_1]

Fairbanks Alaska has this problem.  Wildfires in the summer and wood heating in the winter.

Anywhere there are mountains, the valleys are subject to inversion. I don't know why this is considered weird or odd...