What do you think about temperature inversion?

At clear nights, temperature inversion occurs.

You are going up in elevation but instead of a colder weather, you encounter a warmer weather.

Mostly happens at clear nights.


Also at clear nights, there can be big temperature difference in short distances at the same elevation.

Clear Nights bring us strange weather happenings.

 

I've been out in the elements - as some may recall, I spent some time outdoors in Idaho. @Grandeur wouldn't know this, so I'll explain. Idaho is a northern state on the west half of the United States. It get's different weather depending on the season, and is considered a northern area as it is near the Canadian border.

Anyway, my point was about clear nights. On clear nights the temperature drops lower than on those with cloud cover because cloud cover traps heat down close to the ground!

I believe this to be true, but someone can fact check if they want. I won't argue!

 

I think I've heard that too

 

It always feels warmer here when we have a cloud cover

 

watch, on a clear night the temp drops.
then on a cloudy night the temp drops less

 

We lived in Missoula MT for many years and it is the inversion capital of America. In winter cold air becomes trapped in the valley and stays there till a vigorous weather system promotes mixing. In fact many inversion events feature low clouds and pollution from wood smoke (weed smoke?) trapped in the cold lower elevations. The low angle winter sun is to weak to warm up the valley floor and break the inversion. One year during a month long inversion I hiked up Mt. Sentinel and went thru the cloud layer about 800ft above town. There the bright sun and warmer temperatures had attracted a group of citizens breathing pure air and enjoying life above the inversions.

 

Temperature. What an absolute mystery.

 

A perfect example was the last two nights which were clear and calm and yet,

It was 20 F in Boston (the big city heat island)
It was 12 F where I live in a suburb 10 miles west of the city
It was -2 F in Orange Massachusetts (just 85 miles west of the city) in a valley location

Currently it’s 30 F, 23 F, and 8 F respectfully

An amazing 22 F degree temperature difference in such a short distance …

 

This is happening at clear, calm nights already. Yeah...


Clear Nights are when these are happening

 

At cloudy nights, temps drop equally in nearby areas but at clear nights, you see nearby places dropping faster than one another. Radional temperature cooling and temperature inversion occur.

I am going up in elevation but I encounter a warmer weather instead of a colder weather.

I find clear nights pretty interesting. Really.

 

Do you like clear nights?

 

It is a somewhat complex issue. Warm air in cities is often a saturated vapor, so as it rises and cools, less water can be held. As the water condenses, every gram releases 540 calories of heat.
To understand this better, think about why a kettle that takes 5 minutes to boil, takes a further 30 minutes to boil dry. All that heat energy is still contained in the atmosphere, ready to be released as the water condenses.
This is also the principal of a modern condensing boiler, that at a glance looks to be more than 100% efficient. In reality, it is condensing the water vapor contained in the burner fumes

 

If it weren't for temperature inversion, I wouldn't be making this post right now.