Boise Inversion Layer

One of the down sides of Boise weather is that in winter, it is quite common for an inversion layer to develop. For a few days to a few weeks, you can get this dense, cold fog in the valley--while on top of the mountains, it can be clear and relatively warm. Right now, it is solid gray outside--but click on the Bogus Basin webcam page and you can see that 15 miles away and 4000 feet up, the sky is relatively clear.

Even before it settles in fully, we get a lot of gunk in the air--unpleasant to breathe, and unpleasant to look through as well. (The new house will solve this problem.) I managed to find M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) with Big Bertha the other night, but because of the inversion layer and the junk it was holding in the air, the view left much to be desired.