What is ‘Air Stagnation’ & Why is Boise Being Warned About It?

Typically, talking about the weather is something that you would do if there's nothing else to talk about. It's an annoyingly popular 'ice breaking' conversation that never seems to go anywhere but everyone can relate to. The weather...we're all living in it, right?

This winter, things have been very different and it's fair to say that conversations about the weather have been awfully popular. Mostly because the weather that we've been getting in the Treasure Valley has been totally unexpected.

In the middle of December, we were seeing temperatures as high as 50 degrees. We certainly didn't have a 'white Christmas'. Now, weeks into January, we still have't seen real snow in Boise and even local skis lopes are struggling with the warmer conditions!

Lately, we've been getting non-stop alerts about 'air stagnation'. Whether it is by our smartphones or from the little weather icon on our desktop computers. This has left us continually asking...what on earth is air stagnation?

An alert that went out on Friday, January 16th, warned of this for the Treasure Valley--and it is in effect until Tuesday, January 20th.

According to weather experts, it is when a 'high pressure system' stays in place above us, which kind of acts as a lid, trapping air pollutants, smoke, dust, and more, down below in the valley. When the air isn't moving--neither are those things.

Why should we care? Aside from keeping the air dirtier than we are used to, this can be a risk for those sensitive to poor air quality.

Just today, the National Weather Service posted this interesting video that shows how sunny it is up above the Treasure Valley -- and how thick the layer of inversion above us is. You can see how it literally looks like a lid.