BREAKING NEWS
Layers of dust, pollution cover the Valley
Photographer: Air 15
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Posted: 08/15/2012
It was a hazy start to our Wednesday and many are wondering why.
Powerful storms Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning lead to significant cooling and the formation of a strong inversion layer in Phoenix.
Typically, temperatures decrease with height as you go up in the atmosphere. When an inversion forms, you get a layer where the opposite is true. That, essentially, puts a cap on the air closest to the surface trapping pollutants like dust and moisture. We had plenty of both to trap from the overnight storms.
The inversion formed around the 3,000 foot level and was so strong that morning visibility was reduced to 2.5 miles at Phoenix Sky Harbor.
That inversion started to break around lunch time allowing the air to mix and the visibility to improve but the cloud coverage stuck around all day.
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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