Baby it's stinky outside

Here in the Willamette Valley we are experiencing an "Inversion" for the second time this fall. I am not sure how it works, but the effect is that we are having an "air stagnation advisory." And when I walk outside, it smells bad. Apparently we have very little wind, no rain, and air is trapped in the valley. Polluted air. It's special.

I have never seen this before. Usually when discussing Portland weather, I run up against the "it rains too much, it's too cloudy and gray" complaint. Having lived in New England I vastly prefer Portland for the following reasons:

The temperature hardly ever drops below 32 degrees.
Fall and spring last a long time. (People always raved about New England Falls. You know why it's beautiful? Because it lasts two weeks. That's it. Then all of the leaves fall off the trees and everything is dead for months. MONTHS!)
It's not very humid.
The temparature hardly ever goes above 90 degrees (a dry 90 - not humid).

For this I will put up with cloud cover. The clouds are one of things that keep in the heat. Not those days that fool you where you look out at see the sun and you think "hey cool it's a beautiful day" and then you walk outside and your nose breaks off and hits the pavement with a clunk.

Now the pollution and air stagnation is a new twist. Not only is it cold, but it is stinky. And the fog that is all around isn't fog, it's smog. Now I am used to the build up of smog in the summer when we go for a long time without rain, but here in the winter it is really gross. It's a combination of wood stove and chemicals and who know what else. My friends with allergies are having trouble breathing. And the government is issuing warnings not to drive or burn things.
http://www.weather.gov/alerts/or.html

So I would like to vote that we go back to the way it was before. Hardly any snow, lots of clouds and rain and no stinkiness!!