Huge Inversion

Its going to be bitterly cold today but warmer weather is on the way. The dilemma we face is just how warm will it get? Well, warm air will be moving its way into South Dakota but most of it will be aloft, or 2-4000 feet above the surface. When this occurs, the temperatures above the surface are typically warmer then the ones at the surface. This creates what we call an inversion, or warm air over cold air. Here is one such example. This chart shows temperature in the red line going up and down and elevation (in MB) in the white line going side to side. Notice how the temperature is near -10 right at the surface but its about +13 degrees just above 900 mb. Well, if we want our temperatures at the surface to be like the ones in the atmosphere then we will need some pretty good mixing. Mixing will bring that warmer air down to the surface and heat the ground faster then it would with just the suns rays. So if you want the warmer weather, prey for some good mixing.

~KDLT Meteorologist Cody Matz