Strong Inversion Puts Denver Under A Brown Cloud

DENVER (CBS4) - Depending on your view of Denver and the Front Range on Tuesday, you might have noticed something murky hanging on the horizon.

Its the infamous brown cloud, a layer of air pollution trapped near the surface.

A strong inversion in the atmosphere was to blame for the poor air quality, a phenomena where the air warms instead of cools with height.

In addition, winds along the Front Range were mostly calm keeping the air stagnant close to the ground.

Colorado has made tremendous strides in cleaning up air pollution over the past few decades but sometimes weather patterns can combine with the local terrain to trap pollutants and reduce air quality.

Each day at 4 p.m. the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issues an air quality forecast which describes the current state of the atmosphere and if there are any advisories in place.

That information can always be found on the lower right column of the Weather section.

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Learn more about winter air quality in Colorado and how you can help keep our air clean.