News Outreach Publications Trails Viewpoint Volunteer JavaScript is not available in your browser. Shopping is disabled. The wind in this area usually comes over the Torne ridge from the North or NorthEast. This creates eddies in the Valley below. Eddies are relatively stationary bodies of air or water, holding everything in it for awhile.
Eddies are the main reason that Denver has so much air pollution.
Pollutants get trapped and are not blown away. Its also the same effect which, in white water, makes keepers on the downstream side of a dam. The power plant developers propose to build 300 foot high smokestacks. These will be below the ridge, which is about 800 feet to 1000 feet high. So, under certain weather conditions, hot exhaust gases, moisture and particulants produced by the power plants will build up in the Valley.