Living above the inversion - locations convenient to Salt Lake (Salt Lake City: ski resorts, 2014)

[yellowdoor3]

Hi

I would really appreciate your advice in locating some suburbs and towns that are close to (or in) Salt Lake City but are above the inversion.

So far I've come up with
- Emigration Canyon (how far up is considered above the inversion?)
- Park City
- Summit Park
- Alta, Brighton, other Cottonwood Canyon ski resorts

Any others? Are there any parts of SLC that are noticeably less affected by the inversion, such as Avenues or Cottonwood Heights?

Thank you

[Code Stemi]

Suncrest in Draper is almost always above the inversion, with clean and clear skies during the winter transcending above the pollution.
Such beautiful views up there on the hill.

[SWFL_Native]

I think the most dangerous place to live is at the top of the inversion. The size of the particulates are more hazardous the higher in elevation you go.

If you go up to park city or Jarremy Ranch/pinebrook you truly are out of it. Not sure on the other areas mentioned.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Suncrest has a nasty history of houses sliding down the mountain. Do some reasearch before buying there.

[Code Stemi]

Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah

Suncrest has a nasty history of houses sliding down the mountain. Do some reasearch before buying there.

Really the threat is minor as hundreds of people live up there just fine.
Yes it can happen, but not common by any means.

[SWFL_Native]

Originally Posted by chahunt

Really the threat is minor as hundreds of people live up there just fine.
Yes it can happen, but not common by any means.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss landslides... this happened in NSL a few years ago and is still being remediated and litigated in court. I would think that suncrest is very similar topography as the former quarry site in NSL. I would also guess the site in Cottonwood (Tavaci) being developed for multimilioon dollar homes is similar as well. Finally the houses above/adjacent to the staker parson quarry downtown and just below ensign peak would have me highly concerned over time as well. One charge into the mountain and a brisk rain and down the mountain she goes....

Homeowners insurance does not cover this damage unless you have a rider policy or differences in condition policy for landslides/earthquakes/etc.....

The homes to the right of this have been on the market for years for a few hundred thousand below comparable homes and have yet to sell.

[Lraien]

I've also heard about issues in Suncrest. Issues with snow plows and stuck school buses, issues with water and also higher taxes -- all things I have heard but can't swear to since I don't live there.

The thing that makes me think there probably is something to the "caution buzz" around Suncrest is that you can find very nice, quite new homes in the $300,000's when anything remotely comparable in the surrounding Draper/Lehi area would likely be $500,000+. To me, that says something's up.... even if it is actually sound land, if everyone in the valley has the impression it's a potential disaster, that doesn't help your resale down the road.

[Beernik]

Copperton is above the inversion most of the time. It's probably the most affordable option.

[Geo-Aggie]

This gets posted a lot, and there's a lot of information that gets shared regarding it, but the reality is that there really isn't an "above the inversion" - at least not as far as places that people live go. I'm sure if you wanted to live in a George Jetson house you could figure it out but...

... Decreases of up to 30 percent were observed as elevation increased from 1300 to 1600 m. During the CAP episode of 23-30 January, concentrations of PM2.5 increased roughly linearly with time at all elevations at the rate of about 6 mg (m^3 day)^-1. Higher elevation sites also experienced more rapid influxes of clean air during the mix-out of a CAP on 16 January, although short-lived episodes of higher concentrations occurred at times when polluted air was carried upslope from the residual CAP that persisted at lower elevations.

Source: http://home.chpc.utah.edu/~whiteman/...ges/Silcox.pdf

So really the main benefit of higher elevation is that the inversion clears sooner when a storm comes in, but you still get it.

Useful Graph:


Useful Interpretation of Graph:
As you can see PM 2.5 decreases anywhere from 30% to 0% with elevation. The elevations used in this graph are in meters, but in feet 1300 m is 4250 ft (Airport/West Salt Lake) and 1800 m is 5900 ft (Suncrest, Emigration Canyon, Cottonwood Canyon). Places often advised as being "above the inversion" like Copperton, "Above Wasatch Blvd", and The Avenues are about 5000 ft (1525 m). There is no significant decrease from 4250' to 5000', you get some from 5000 to 5900, but is ~20% isn't really enough to plan your home shopping around, in my opinion. Especially not with the cons that come with living in one of those communities (commute, cost, snowwwww, landslides). So to get away from the inversion you've really just got to move to Park City or Heber, and even then you may still have a handful of smoggy days, sorry.

[SWFL_Native]

Great post geo!