Board 8 > Why is it colder at the bottom of a mountain at morning?

(+) Yeah! (+)

But colder at the top of the mountain during the day and a night?

The top of the mountain sees the sun first?

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I have been trying to figure this out since 8:00 AM, and I still can't find a satisfactory answer.

He's right, the sun rises and heats the top first and goes down the mountain as it rises.

But, the mountain I'm speaking of is located north of the bottom I'm referring to...

Do higher elevations see sunrise earlier?

Yes

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Are you kidding me?

If the sun rises in a city, which floor of a 40 story building sees sunlight through their window first?

From: Crono801 | #005
Do higher elevations see sunrise earlier?

Is that a real question?

EDIT: I shouldn't be so mean. Crono might live somewhere like the east coast where mountains don't exist.

--
My Japanese alter-ego.
Hey all this is Bartz btw.

Then, a town on the western side of the mountain would be colder in the morning than all aforementioned locations, correct?

wg64Z posted...
Are you kidding me?

If the sun rises in a city, which floor of a 40 story building sees sunlight through their window first?

I would imagine that in a 40 story building, the sun would seem to rise almost simultaneously.

I was just skeptical that a 2000 ft elevation difference would cause the sunrise to be delayed enough to cause a noticeable and significant difference in temperature.

...and if sunrise is experienced earlier enough to cause the temperature to surpass the temperature at the base of the mountain, shouldn't the reverse be true at sunset, at least to some degree?

I think I need to take high school environmental science again -_-

Also, the difference in elevation I'm referring to is only 2000 feet. There should only be a one minute difference in sunrise for every 5000 feet, so there's no way that difference would cause the temperature to vary by anything but the very slimmest margins.

I just came up with one possible solution. The top of a mountain has much less mass than the bottom of a mountain. Therefore, the top of the mountain is quick to warm-up in the morning, but when the bottom finally warms-up it holds much more heat. During the nighttime it simply takes longer for the heat to leave the bottom because the heat retention is greater because of the greater mass.

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But, the reason it is cooler at higher altitudes is due to lower atmospheric pressure, not an inability to retain heat from the sun.

http://www.myfacewhen.com/332/

This morning, it is eleven degrees warmer on top of the mountain than it is at the bottom.

wtf

Warm air rises?

Maybe it's a volcano

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Goodnight Austin Texas, wherever you are!

KingButz posted...
From: Crono801 | #005
Do higher elevations see sunrise earlier?
Is that a real question?

EDIT: I shouldn't be so mean. Crono might live somewhere like the east coast where mountains don't exist.

Uh we do have mountains on the east coast you know. And a lot of the parts where we don't, we have skyscrapers which work the same way.

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pjbasis posted...
Warm air rises?

Warm air does rise, but as it rises the drop in atmospheric pressure causes it to expand, lowering the temperature, similar to how a bottle of compressed air cools as it is released.

Dauntless Hunter posted...
Uh we do have mountains on the east coast you know. And a lot of the parts where we don't, we have skyscrapers which work the same way.

To be fair, the Appalachian mountains are dwarfed by the Rockies and most other mountain ranges.

Still mountains!

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