Connections Between Cold Air Pools and Mountain Valley Fog Events in Salt Lake City

The aim of this study is to investigate the connection between cold air pools and fog events in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Statistical analyses are conducted using soundings and reported automated surface observing system data from Salt Lake International Airport for the last eighteen cold seasons (October to March, during 1997-2015). A Chi-square test of independence is performed on identified cold air pool, and fog events to determine whether the two events are correlated. Conditional probabilities are then computed to investigate the occurrence of fog, given the presence of a cold pool. These probabilities are compared against that of random fog generation in the mid-winter. It is concluded that the dependence between cold air pools and fog events is statistically significant. The presence of a cold pool makes the formation of fog more likely than random generation.