Inversions

Forecast:  Fog, Fog, Fog, Fog, Fog, Fog

By Kirk Siegler, 11-21-05

Thursday was one of those days in Missoula where we all look around and affirm to one another, “Yes, now this is why we live here!� It’s crisp and clear and sunny and the mountains are glowing with fresh snow, and it’s a happy ginger-bread-hot cider-spiced-with-rum-let’s-go-for-a-cross-country-ski-and-snuggle sort of day.

Then overnight the smell of smoke and exhaust engulfs us in a drab inversion and we awake to a forecast calling for the awfully homogenous 31 degrees and fog to persist for miles down the road. Or until April anyway. It’s then when we begin immediately second guessing ourselves and our lifestyle choices.

These are the days of that blistering I-hate-you-and-I’m-going-to-penetrate-your-bones sort of cold, like the kind that whips in the wind through Midtown Manhattan from the Hudson in the middle of January.

The good news is, in Missoula, you need only go up, or around the corner to escape it. As the Missoulian suggests today, points east like Clinton (or yesterday even East Missoula) and points above – like the top of Mount Sentinel - offer a welcome respite.

And don’t worry – we should be back to making those affirmative statements by Saturday at least.

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