Weather guru question

JCranford

JCranford

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JCranford
OK so weather theory isnt my strong suit and I couldnt answer a question my wife asked.

We all know that clear days are generally more turbulent than hazy days due to the rising air.

Haze is suspended particulate matter trapped below an inversion layer (right?).

Why doesnt wind blow the trapped particulate matter away?
 
I'm far from being an expert, but "haze" and "wind" don't belong in the same sentence. Here in the Puget Sound area, where the population lives between two mountain ranges, we pray for wind/rain to make the haze go away. (We just equaled the record for consecutive over-80 degree days set in 1977: 15 straight. Just a spit of blessed rain today.

Bob Gardner
 
I think you're confusing causality.

Haze and smooth air and oven drizzle is usually the result of stable air.
Clear weather and turbulance and thunderstorms is usually the result of unstable air.

There are two major ways air because unstable. Unstable air is the product of higher humidities and either uneven heating (convective instability) or horizontal movement of air (dynamic instability).
 
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Because... the trapped particulate matter is suspended within the "wind".

dtuuri
 
JCranford said:
Haze is suspended particulate matter trapped below an inversion layer (right?).

Why doesnt wind blow the trapped particulate matter away?
Click to expand...

Well there's a difference between water-based haze (which is more like light fog) and pollution haze (which is more suspended particulate matter aka dirt and dust).

If the haze is because the temp is near the dew point (eg water haze) that doesn't really 'blow away' rather you need to get the temp dewpoint spread apart for the air to clear up. That's the difference between poor visibility on a hot muggy day and good visbility on a hot day with dryer air.
 
Not a guru, but I live in Salt Lake where we get winter inversions frequently. This is due in part to location (valley surrounded by mountains to the east and west) and new snow which reflects heat energy, instead of allowing the earth to absorb it. In this scenario, there is little wind, as a high pressure system usually parks itself over us. In fact, the only way to clear an inversion is to get that wind, which is always accompanied by a storm front and precipitation, which collects the particulates into water droplets and dumps them to the ground. I would not advise running around with your mouth open drinking down rain following and inversion. All sorts of cancer involved I imagine.

This could really be a local phenomenon and not related to your specific area.
 
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