First Registration. Then Confiscation. They are Coming for Your ... Wood Stove

[v0lcom13sn0w]

Wood stove registration begins, are you affected?

Starting January 8, 2020, in certain situations residents will have to register their wood stoves with the state of Alaska.

www.webcenter11.com

too much .gov

 

[DLS]

The inversions happen due to cold air sinking and warmer air rising.

The basin around the Great Salt Lake is pretty much a totally enclosed bowl, ringed by mountains. If, after a cold spell the incoming warmer air masses are not moving fast enough they will sort of "skip" up and off of the cold air mass in the basin rather than push the colder air up the slopes and out.

So the cold air is trapped under a layer of warmer air. I've taken off from Ogden Airport when the temperature is in the single digits until you climb a few thousand feet where the air temperatures are now above freezing. It's pretty blinding too, to come out of total instrument conditions to erupt up and out of the trapped air layer into severe clear and bright conditions.

Pretty cool actually.

Edited to add:

Since the cold air is trapped in this "bowl" there is no where for particular matter to go. Rather than being blown Eastward by the prevailing winds, it hangs around inside the bowl trapped near the ground. This creates a ton of crap in the air making visibility poor. All this particulate matter gives water vapor something to grab onto and condense creating thick layers of fog further eroding the visibility.

The inversions in Utah last until one of two things happen. Either an even colder air mass moves in and pushes under the now warmer trapped air. This "warmer" air now moves high enough for prevailing winds to blow it further East or ...

A very strong, fast moving front that possesses enough energy to push the cold air mass up and over the mountain moves in. Once the cold air mass is pushed to the top of the mountain it will spill over the top to the East.

 

[BlueJacket]

I don't know, maybe partially. They've have had to work with EPA regs just like everyone else I imagine. There's a butt load more people driving cars than when i was there though. I'd say that's the major cause.

Inversions are real common during winter on the Wasatch Front. The Wasatch Range is around 11,000' fee. Air movement during winter dry spells push all the crap up against the mountains. It is a high desert so those times are common. We didn't have those issues when I was growing up in the SL valley. They were more common when I moved away in '83. It was not uncommon during a winter inversion for it to be cloudy and brown in the valley but go up in the mountains and it would be 10-15 degrees warmer at 7,000' than it was on the valley floor.

This is what it looks like about halfway down Little Cottonwood Canyon where Snowbird Resort is.

View attachment 649071

This is at the top

View attachment 649073

And because it's so neat up there at 11,000'

View attachment 649077

Being a sea level boy for so many years the air up there is very noticeably different.

beautiful, thanks for the insight and pics.

 

[The Heretic]

The inversions happen due to cold air sinking and warmer air rising.

The basin around the Great Salt Lake is pretty much a totally enclosed bowl, ringed by mountains. If, after a cold spell the incoming warmer air masses are not moving fast enough they will sort of "skip" up and off of the cold air mass in the basin rather than push the colder air up the slopes and out.

So the cold air is trapped under a layer of warmer air. I've taken off from Ogden Airport when the temperature is in the single digits until you climb a few thousand feet where the air temperatures are now above freezing. It's pretty blinding too, to come out of total instrument conditions to erupt up and out of the trapped air layer into severe clear and bright conditions.

Pretty cool actually.

I see something akin to this most days of the winter; it is slightly warmer up here on the mountain, and when I get to the bottom (during my commute) the external temp (car has a display) is colder by at least several degrees.

During the summer, when I go up to the top of the mountain and look south, I can often see the layer of smog.

 

[Norwestr55]

I was a boiler house operator before I retired a few yrs ago and had to be re-certified every six months at "smoke reading". Tested for reading white smoke and black smoke opacity. Stand a certain distance back from a smoke generator that released metered plumes of smoke through a stack. Thats 5%, thats 25,% thats 45% etc up to 100% opacity. Industrial applications exceeding 20% opacity smoke for over 20 minutes are required to fill out a DEQ report and I imagine you get slapped if you exceed it too many times. And get caught...
The last few times I did this there was an Oakridge police officer there testing along with the boiler house and other plant guys. I wondered if they are on the lookout for people exceeding house hold wood stove standards? Or if there is such a thing.

 

[JohnnyMac]

"We're working towards cleaner air, the overall goal is to work towards cleaner air, not to track who has what wood stove."

Sounds eerily familiar......

 

[bbbass]

Oregon law requires removal and destruction of uncertified wood stoves and fireplace inserts when a home is sold. If a stove or insert is certified to meet wood smoke emission standards, it can remain in the home. The 2009 Oregon Legislature passed this law to help protect people from unhealthy wood smoke pollution.

Makes me wonder about healthy wood smoke pollution...

 

[bbbass]

The inversions happen due to cold air sinking and warmer air rising.

The basin around the Great Salt Lake is pretty much a totally enclosed bowl, ringed by mountains. If, after a cold spell the incoming warmer air masses are not moving fast enough they will sort of "skip" up and off of the cold air mass in the basin rather than push the colder air up the slopes and out.

So the cold air is trapped under a layer of warmer air. I've taken off from Ogden Airport when the temperature is in the single digits until you climb a few thousand feet where the air temperatures are now above freezing. It's pretty blinding too, to come out of total instrument conditions to erupt up and out of the trapped air layer into severe clear and bright conditions.

Pretty cool actually.

Edited to add:

Since the cold air is trapped in this "bowl" there is no where for particular matter to go. Rather than being blown Eastward by the prevailing winds, it hangs around inside the bowl trapped near the ground. This creates a ton of crap in the air making visibility poor. All this particulate matter gives water vapor something to grab onto and condense creating thick layers of fog further eroding the visibility.

The inversions in Utah last until one of two things happen. Either an even colder air mass moves in and pushes under the now warmer trapped air. This "warmer" air now moves high enough for prevailing winds to blow it further East or ...

A very strong, fast moving front that possesses enough energy to push the cold air mass up and over the mountain moves in. Once the cold air mass is pushed to the top of the mountain it will spill over the top to the East.

Thanks Dad...

 

[DLS]

Thanks Dad...

You're welcome Son!

 

[Mikej]

Makes me wonder about healthy wood smoke pollution...

That's the kind that wafts from the smoker. With pork of fish essence attached to the smoke molecules.

 

[41mag]

...been tough to find suitable bluetooth app to split & carry that firewood....let alone choose thermostat remote setting...whatever that is...