Morning inversion

This morning there was a pronounced nocturnal inversion visible across the Salt Lake Valley. The below photo was taken from above the Salt Lake City Cemetary at 11th Avenue around 9:30AM. What's interersting about this photo is the very distinct two layers against the East bench. Here we are looking south across the valley at Big and Little Cottonwood canyon in the distance.


Reviewing the 12z SLC sounding, there was a pronounced ground inversion capped at 860mb with a small flattening near 750mb and then a relatively deep layer extending up to 650mb. By mid day the entire valley was likely well mixed to 650mb with surface-driven cumulus across the region. And with a northwest flow aloft, perhaps we will see some of the trapped valley aerosols disperse a bit more before the next Cold Air Pool event settles in for a stay.


The ingredients are right for another Cold Air Pool event, which will give us IOP2 over the next period, but the duration and strength is in question. I'll let Neil or Erik post the details on IOP1 ending and IOP2 starting up.