why is cooler air found in low valleys on clammy nights?

Answer 1

Good Question!! "radical" got it mostly right on this one... cold air is more dense and always will be below hot air. This is why you will generally get cooler air in the valleys, as well as fog and low lying clouds (this is called a temperature inversion). Usually when you go up in altitude, the air gets cooler, well, in a valley, when you go up, the air gets warmer (hence the "inversion" name) because there are these cool air "pockets" in valleys. You can actually test this.... air and water are very similar in the way they behave (air generally behaves like a fluid). So, you can fill up half of a sink with cold water and then switch it to hot. Don't stir up the water at all. Once you have filled up the entire sink with water, stick your hand in the water slowly from the top straight down to the bottom. You will notice that the hot water is on the top and the cold water is on the bottom. They do not mix. Try it! :-)

Answer 2

Valleys get less sun during the day and thus have less heat to radiate to the atmosphere at night.

Moisture makes the air feel cooler, but does not significantly impact actual temperature.

Answer 3

in the process the day is the land is heated up by means of the solar by means of longwave radiation. properly on sparkling days, as a results of fact the solar instruments and if the skies are sparkling the longwave radiation will go out the earth and effect in cooler temperatures. in this technique in some cases heat air aloft around 3,000 ft to 5,000 ft will improve as a results of fact the floor is dropping warmth speedier the air can radiate lower back out of earth. This creates what's observed as an inversion. Fog the kinds will the floor cools off is observed as radiation floor fog as a results of fact it kinds in the process the exiting of image voltaic radiation.

Answer 4

Cold air is denser, therefore heavier than warm air and sinks to the bottom of the valley.

Answer 5

Last time I checked...um....heat rises.