Ambient Air

I live in a bowl-shaped valley.  Which means we have temperature inversions.  A lot.  Especially in winter.  The past several days the ambient air has been so nasty!  It stinks and makes me cough, and may have contributed to the sickness I've ended up with.  To top it off, in my car, the refresh button is broken- you know the little one you push to make it recycle the air when you drive past road kill or you're behind a stinky truck that hasn't passed its emissions test.  That's broken so we have only outside air and it has been so bad.  It's also been bitterly cold.  So I haven't been walking or hiking lately but with the air, I wouldn't want to anyway.

So I wonder- is it always like this and I'm just noticing it more this year since I actually have been out in the fresh air and the mountains more lately?  Or is it worse for some reason?

It makes me want to go hike the Y.  My Environmental Management teacher told us about inversions and how he went on a hike with a friend to the Y when it was super cold, but when they got up to the Y, they got to a high enough elevation that they were above the inversion and it was all sunny and warm up there.  :)  I'm not sure if my lungs could get me there with this icky air though.  Yuck.