Comments about ‘New study aims to capture information on Utah's inversion’

Something has to be done?
By Chance clean air for the (Summer time) as its going to continue thru Heat of the Day..

After 150 years of this known natural phenomenon, I think they already know why they occur. Most weathermen have already figured it out and it can't be changed.

My theory is that most of it comes from using Salt, sand, and mud on the roads in the winter. Then when vehicles drive over this fine dust residue it is tossed in to the air and it hangs there like a dust cloud. Vehicles that leak oils and fluids, and there are thousands of them, on the roads also add to the residue. The fine dust acts like a sponge to absorb automotive fluid leaks which ends up in the inversion.

The only way these hazardous leaks can be averted is by federal laws to mandate better methods of sealing these fluids in the vehicles, especially as they age. This may be why some think it is from car exhaust when its actually engine oils and fluid leaks. If you check some parking lots you will see many oil and fluid puddles in the stalls. Now put that on the roads.

And what do they think they will accomplish by this study? Will they be able to tell us that the air is filthy? Perhaps they will come up with a method to change the weather so that cold air no longer gets trapped in our valley? Maybe they will identify a way to move high pressure systems out?

In all seriousness, what does this expensive study hope to accomplish?

When are we going to stop calling this an 'inversion' and start calling it 'pollution'?

It is both inversion AND pollution. The pollution is always there, occurring from various sources; then when an inversion occurrs it traps the pollution which can then no longer disperse. It is like putting a lid on a pot of steaming water - the steam is held in and can no longer disperse. We CAN do something about the pollution if we will; we cannot prevent inversions.

150 years, every take a chemistry class?

Grit and grime residue Salt lake..
Its the Brine Shrimp the smelly fish eggs..

For one Stop car idle
Two the diesel fuel exuast
three landfill garbage more to recyle,glass bins?
Never help the inversion Haze were Breathing.

No,really alot more to help the air for our future

1) Monitor PM10 and PM2.5 in SLC, all the existing monitors are not in the city, but in cleaner residential areas (environmental justice?).

2) Provide the public the ability to monitor PM in their house using portable particle monitors.

3) Provide more public input.

4) Provide more public input.

5) Provide more public input.

6) Provide more public input.

7) Stop studying the weather, we know it is an inversion, get over it and start controlling the emissions.

Number 9
Number 9

people people more people
cars cars more cars
smog smog more smog
sick sick more sick
die die more die
less people
less cars
less smog
happy utah

or cant they just cut down the mountains!!!!!

lets cut the mountains down
we can all get rich from the natural resources we sell (like Alaska)and no more stupid smog.
Seriously the future looks pretty bad for these parts.
Time to move

Its so thick no wind in
Valley the air Quality is Harsh!

Thats what bring in the Yellow snow..

There's no way we can control the inversion with the amount of residents living in the valley. People have to go to work, drive to the store, etc. The only way to control it is to have less cars and trucks on the road. But who is going to give up their car for the 'air quality?' Nobody. I'll raise my hand and publicly admit I didn't change my driving habits at all during the inversions. It's not my problem and me driving less just isn't going to happen. Who really wants to walk to the store or school or anywhere else? Nobody. Things aren't changing anytime soon until they make emission free cars.

Your information is incorrect: One of the air monitors is located at Hawthorne Elementary School on 1700 South 600 East in Salt Lake City, right next to busy 700 East.

And there is plenty of opportunity for sincere, realistic, public input. However, if all your "public input" consists of nothing but variations of "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE UNLESS WE GIVE UP OUR CARS!!" then no one really cares to hear it.

Well, since air inversions are natural phenomena, we really can't control them in the first place.

And emissions of all types of pollutants in the Salt Lake Valley have been steadily decreasing for the past 100 years, thanks to a combination of economic factors (far fewer metal refining operations), cleaner technologies (unleaded gasoline and natural gas furnaces), and specific government regulations (emissions inspections for all cars).

The air my children breathe today is -- depending on the pollutant -- anywhere from 10 to 100 times cleaner than the air I breathed when I was a kid. To me, that's an excellent reason to be optimistic about the future.