Top Five Reasons I Was Glad to See the Inversion Go

Ahhhh! Do you feel that? That's the sensation of clean air entering your lungs. Finally. We Boiseans have been living inside a (very large) cloud of polluted, stagnant air for the last week. If you have never lived in a valley where cold air gets trapped by the surrounding mountains, you are missing out on a hiked-five-miles-uphill-in-the-snow story to tell your kids.

Please note: An inversion isn't a delicate frosty fog that leaves everything looking like an icy wonderland in the mornings, although it does make for an interesting view if you can get high enough above it.

Around Thursday, the inversion lifted, and so did everyone's spirits. Here are my top five reasons I was glad to see the inversion go.

1. I can breathe again.
I can go for a walk or a run without feeling like I am wearing one of those Hannibal-style straight jackets.

2. No more crazy kids.
As much as my husband and non-educators scoff at the idea, kids really are affected by lunar cycles and weather abnormalities. On Thursday, my students dialed back the crazy that had been unleashed the past couple of weeks. Or so I thought. By Friday, they were acting weird again.

3. I don't have to brave treacherous mountain roads to get away from it.
Actually my husband, Dan, does the winter mountain driving in this family. But braving the treacherous mountain roads as a passenger is even harder for a control freak like me.

4. No more "sads."
Sigh. It's nice not to have the "sads" anymore because . . .

5. "Here Comes the Sun, do-do-do-do!"
When the inversion lifted, those cold (not polar-vortex-cold though) temperatures un-inverted too. Everything is right with the world. The mountains are a little colder. The valley is a little warmer. And I can see the sun and blue skies. There is something unearthly about not being able to see the sky. And although, Dan and I enjoyed pretending like we were stuck in sci-fi movie for the first day or so, it got old after a while.

Of course, I am realist. I know we have to wait through February until we're in the clear for sure. Then we have a few months before fire season. For now, I am going enjoy the clean air while it lasts.

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