Driving to work today, it almost looked like fog — until I saw smoke go up…and then sideways. This is a weather inversion, and it can be deadly for farmers.
If farmers see this kind of thing happening, it’s a really bad day to agitate their manure ponds. I know that I could smell the farm and wood smoke a little stronger in Augusta as I was walking into the office this morning (which makes sense cause all that stuff is trapped close to the surface).
So I guess you can actually see air quality in this case… I’ve often seen the Twin Cities issue Air Quality alerts on days like today.
Your science lesson for today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inversion_(meteorology)
While it’s fascinating to see a weather inversion, I hope that our farmers stay safe today.
Kelly Jacobs, Senior Environmental Scientist
