Heber vs. Park City for Asthma, Inversion (Salt Lake City, Provo: appointed, school)

[sbsteveburr]

We live in Orem and my children are having a terrible time with asthma. It is much worse this year (of our 8 years in Ut) We finally have hit our limit (for medical bills and coughing children) and have decided we need to move. We are looking at the areas around Heber and Park City. My husband is a school teacher, so we are limited on funds, making Heber more appealing than Park City.

Heber is at about 5600 feel elevation. I've read that the inversion ends about 6000 feet elevation. My children feel much better in Heber, but they don't stop wheezing until we get to about Jordanelle. If we lived in Heber all the time, I wondered if the swelling in the lungs would go down and they would feel fine in Heber vs. Park City.

Has anyone studied whether it is bad to live in Heber for asthma and if the inversion sits over Heber? I don't feel like I can see a smog problem when I travel through Heber, but I still hear wheezing there.

Does anyone have children with severe asthma who have recovered and lived a healthy live when moving to Heber? Or, another city?

Does anyone live in Midway who can look down and see an inversion layer over Heber? Or does anyone feel better in Midway (at 6000 el) than in Heber?

Now, I'm also concerned about oxygen. I use oxygen when I sleep. Would people with sensitive lungs have a harder time living in Park City year round than in Heber?

Please send any advise about asthma, oxygen, enjoyment living in any of the little cities over there, etc.

Thank you! Thank you!

[mlb]

So your husband will commute from whereever you live?

I don't know about Heber or Kamas other than the prices are lower than Park City.

What I will recommend is that you not move north of Salt Lake. I have friends who have kids and live in Bountiful and Woods Cross. The refineries plus the smog is more than toxic.

Good luck.

[skibarbie]

When skiing at Deer Valley, there is a great overlook of the Heber Valley off of one of the runs. Several times, I have seen a layer of funk-no sure if it is creeping up Provo Canyon or just a local contribution. Kimball Junction/Jeremy Ranch in the PC area also have a nice layer going on this season too-I have seen it every time that I come over Parleys Summit.
There was a a well written editorial in the Wednesday Park Record-read it and weep. I used to feel smug living up there and now my friends have a tendency to think that they are "above" it all.In my opinion, Utah needs to get really serious about emissions testing, no more drive thru banks/fast food and make it financially unattractive to use a fireplace.

[kt76]

I have lived in Heber now for 2 1/2 years. There is a slight inversion in Heber, but it's more of a temperature inversion than a pollution inversion. Park City does seem to be better off than Heber, due to the fact that Heber is a low valley surrounded by enormous mountains. I have not noticed any problems with breathing here and it is certainly much, much better here than Utah or SL valley. Also, there are plenty of areas in the surrounding Heber valley where you are out of the minor inversion, as you mentioned Jordanelle is one of them. Timberlakes is also out of the slight inversion. If you like very rural areas, then Wallsburg might be a good option. There isn't much of an inversion there and it's 15 minutes closer to Utah valley.

Either way, Heber or Park City would be good options for getting out of the inversion. It's been wonderful to come out of the valley and into fresh air and sunshine in Heber. You won't be disappointed either way. That being said, I can see the inversion getting worse as Heber gets built out. Right now, roughly 25,000 people live here. At build-out, which isn't expected to happen before 30 years in the future, the population is estimated to reach 100,000. I would imagine we'd have an inversion by then.

If you live in Park City, be prepared for another 1-2 months of cold weather than in Utah valley. If you live in Heber, you'll get an additional 2-4 weeks of cold weather than Utah County. However, the summers definitely make it worth it--the average high is 85 and the average low is 49.

[RunningWild]

My husband had bad asthma in Salt Lake City. We moved to Midway. It disappeared. Then moved to Park City. Still no problem. It was an amazing change.