Q: What does an inversion mean in weather terms?
A: We talk about an inversion on KIRO 7 and that often happens in winter if we have high pressure in control of our atmosphere and if there's no rain or storm system.
There are times when a later of warm air came come in from the south or southeast, and that rides up and over colder air that is denser. That colder air weighs more, it simply is denser and will hug the ground while the warm air aloft will act like a trap.
Often if we get that setting up for days we’ll have low clouds, often fog, pollutants will begin to develop and be stagnant. So whenever you hear about a burn ban going into effect, usually we have an inversion in place – where we have warm air sitting above cold air.
It takes usually a cold front and some good wind to break that up.
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