Back to Colorado Temperature
In general, air temperature decreases with increasing elevation. However, sometimes the air above the earth is warmer than the air near the ground's surface. This condition is known as a temperature inversion.
Inversions occur most frequently during winter nights in the absence of wind. Along the Front Range, an inversion may result in high air pollution days because the pollutants become trapped in the layer of cold air. In the mountains, an inversion results in the extremely cold temperatures found is towns like Fraser, Taylor Park, and Gunnison.