12 January 2013
Deadly Frozen Smog Closes In On Beijing
Posted by Dan Satterfield
Image from Aljazeera. Click image for story.
Temps in Beijing are running around -5C and visibility is less than 200 meters in places. There is a large high pressure system over the region that is causing a strong temperature inversion. This means the air aloft is warmer than the air at the surface so smoke and soot from factories and trucks gets trapped over the city. A blob of warm smoke from a factory smoke stack will begin to rise because it is warmer than the air around it, but it suddenly reaches a level where the air around it is actually warmer and therefore it sinks back down over the city.
Surface analyses courtesy of the Japanese Metr. Agency.
The BBC has an update HERE.
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.
