I thought you'd like to see this - we have not had such a dense and extensive inversion for a LONG time. The folks down in the lower slopes and city have not seen the sun for nearly 10 days now!
Cameron
Cameron
Temperature Inversion in Vancouver
- Thread starter Cameron
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North America sure has had some crazy extremes lately.....I won't complain as long as I have power, food, and shelter.
Neat photo!
Jim
Jim
aussigal
Well-known member
Ok I'm an Aussie and lost here......what is an inversion?...my tired eyes are struggling to figure out what I am looking at in that glorious photo...is that cloud or snow there in the distance?
Marguerite53
Premium Level User
Well, it's too bad you can't see the city, because truly, Vancouver is my favorite city.....SO beautiful!!
We get inversions here in the Willamette Valley.
Ton, here's more than you ever wanted to know.
"Inversions go hand in hand with radiation fog.(The fog that typically forms in the fall and winter is the radiation fog.In this case, you typically want clear skies and night, and a recent rain doesn't hurt (as the wet ground adds more available moisture to the equation) but isn't required. As the day's heat radiates back into space (thus the name radiation fog) the temperature drops down to meet the dew point, and fog forms.) Normally in the lower atmosphere, the air gets colder as you go higher in altitude. But with an inversion, the air briefly gets warmer as you go higher.
This occurs when you have a pool of cold air near the ground that gets stubborn. A typical chain of events is it's a clear and calm night. The warm air gets radiated back into space leaving cold air near the ground.
But cold air is heavier and denser than warm air, so it takes some good nudging to get rid of it. If there's little or no wind, that cold air will just get entrenched. And if the moisture content is right, it'll create a dense fog, too, due to radiation cooling. Meanwhile, the sun comes up and warms the air above that cold air mass.
In these cases, it can literally be warmer in the mountains than in the lowlands. .
The sun will start to eat away at the inversion, warming the top layers of the cold air mass.
But in the fall and winter, the sun is low on the horizon and daylight is short, so it's not very hungry and inversions can become very stubborn, leading to several days of fog and possibly pollution problems as the air becomes very stagnant near the ground and pollutants have nowhere to go. And if it's foggy, it can help sustain an inversion since that prevents a lot of the sun's warmth from reach the ground and breaking up that cold air mass.
Marguerite
We get inversions here in the Willamette Valley.
Ton, here's more than you ever wanted to know.
"Inversions go hand in hand with radiation fog.(The fog that typically forms in the fall and winter is the radiation fog.In this case, you typically want clear skies and night, and a recent rain doesn't hurt (as the wet ground adds more available moisture to the equation) but isn't required. As the day's heat radiates back into space (thus the name radiation fog) the temperature drops down to meet the dew point, and fog forms.) Normally in the lower atmosphere, the air gets colder as you go higher in altitude. But with an inversion, the air briefly gets warmer as you go higher.
This occurs when you have a pool of cold air near the ground that gets stubborn. A typical chain of events is it's a clear and calm night. The warm air gets radiated back into space leaving cold air near the ground.
But cold air is heavier and denser than warm air, so it takes some good nudging to get rid of it. If there's little or no wind, that cold air will just get entrenched. And if the moisture content is right, it'll create a dense fog, too, due to radiation cooling. Meanwhile, the sun comes up and warms the air above that cold air mass.
In these cases, it can literally be warmer in the mountains than in the lowlands. .
The sun will start to eat away at the inversion, warming the top layers of the cold air mass.
But in the fall and winter, the sun is low on the horizon and daylight is short, so it's not very hungry and inversions can become very stubborn, leading to several days of fog and possibly pollution problems as the air becomes very stagnant near the ground and pollutants have nowhere to go. And if it's foggy, it can help sustain an inversion since that prevents a lot of the sun's warmth from reach the ground and breaking up that cold air mass.
Marguerite
PairoDocs
Well-known member
We have had an inversion, too, in southern Idaho for about 5 days so far. The mountains typically have been seeing temperatures in the high 40s during the day and 5-15° F at night. In the valleys the lows are 20-25 and highs 25-32°F. Inversion just means you expect higher altitudes to be colder during the day than in the valleys, but with stagnant air, the colder air is below the warmer, and the mountains are sunny, calm, and generally daytime temperatures are warmer than the usually foggy (or if the humidity is too low, smoggy) skies in the valleys. It was very sunny and nice in the mountains for my birthday Saturday, just like in Cameron's picture at the top of this thread.
While the driving may be difficult and the fog fairly bland and gray, the ice crystals deposits (hoarfrost) that form on branches, weeds, bird netting, etc. are quite beautiful.
Here's a picture of some bird netting over one of our bush cherries in our little orchard. The crystals are about half an inch long.
Chris
While the driving may be difficult and the fog fairly bland and gray, the ice crystals deposits (hoarfrost) that form on branches, weeds, bird netting, etc. are quite beautiful.
Here's a picture of some bird netting over one of our bush cherries in our little orchard. The crystals are about half an inch long.
Chris
ALCapshaw2
Well-known member
Well, it's too bad you can't see the city, because truly, Vancouver is my favorite city.....SO beautiful!!
We get inversions here in the Willamette Valley.
Ton, here's more than you ever wanted to know.
"Inversions go hand in hand with radiation fog.(The fog that typically forms in the fall and winter is the radiation fog.In this case, you typically want clear skies and night, and a recent rain doesn't hurt (as the wet ground adds more available moisture to the equation) but isn't required. As the day's heat radiates back into space (thus the name radiation fog) the temperature drops down to meet the dew point, and fog forms.) Normally in the lower atmosphere, the air gets colder as you go higher in altitude. But with an inversion, the air briefly gets warmer as you go higher.
This occurs when you have a pool of cold air near the ground that gets stubborn. A typical chain of events is it's a clear and calm night. The warm air gets radiated back into space leaving cold air near the ground.
But cold air is heavier and denser than warm air, so it takes some good nudging to get rid of it. If there's little or no wind, that cold air will just get entrenched. And if the moisture content is right, it'll create a dense fog, too, due to radiation cooling. Meanwhile, the sun comes up and warms the air above that cold air mass.
In these cases, it can literally be warmer in the mountains than in the lowlands. .
The sun will start to eat away at the inversion, warming the top layers of the cold air mass.
But in the fall and winter, the sun is low on the horizon and daylight is short, so it's not very hungry and inversions can become very stubborn, leading to several days of fog and possibly pollution problems as the air becomes very stagnant near the ground and pollutants have nowhere to go. And if it's foggy, it can help sustain an inversion since that prevents a lot of the sun's warmth from reach the ground and breaking up that cold air mass.
AH, that explains why winters are so gloomy and depressing in the midwest, especially around the Great Lakes Region.
Ross
Well-known member
Sun? What is this Sun of which you speak?
Sun....we have a gorgeous sunshine today sparkling on the pristine fresh fallen snow.
For those not familiar with Vancouver, this photo is taken from a point on the North Shore mountains in a swanky area known as the British Properties, looking roughly south, south east down over the City of Vancouver, the Fraser River valley and Fraser River delta. At the extreme left of the frame in the distance you can see Mount Baker in Washington State. In the right middle centre you can just see the tops of the tallest buildings in the City peeking out from the fog. Others have already given all the details of a temperature inversion!
Cameron
Cameron
Marguerite53
Premium Level User
When the inversion lifts, would you please go back to that same spot and take a photo of your glorious green-windowed city??? Seems like that is an excellent vantage point. I love mountain peaks! On exceedingly clear days, here in Portland Metro, we can not only easily see Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helen's, but if you are high enough (in a building) Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier, maybe Mt. Jefferson. Mt. Baker is too far north.
Marguerite
netmiff
Well-known member
That's 'cos you winters and summers are permanently inverted lol who has Christmas in the middle of summer ???
aussigal
Well-known member
That's 'cos you winters and summers are permanently inverted lol who has Christmas in the middle of summer ???
Yeah...but from where we are you guys are the ones who have it backwards...lol...we dont even get snow in most of Australia typically the coldest it commonly gets is down to 0C or 30F, and that would be an overnight temp. or rarely during the day maybe up the mountains where a little snow has fallen.
Thanks Marguerite for that explanation...I put my glasses on and had another look and I see it more clearly now...stunning photo...
