0
Cloudy nights can be warmer than clear nights because clouds trap heat?
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
Water is active in infrared. So water will capture IR from the ground, and scatter about half of it back to the ground. So it allows for much slower cooling than without the water vapor present. It also does a good job of storing heat, so that also plays a part. As clouds form rain, the energy that it took to make it into vapor needs to find a home, usually making for hot rain. Where the atmosphere is saturated with water vapor (like over the ocean, near the tropics), rain is frequently hot, or at least hotter than ambeint temperature. Only where the dewpoint temperature is significantly lower does cold rain fall. So if precipitation (either rain or snow) is falling, some of this heat also gets radiated to the ground.
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
What would happen to both night and day if the earth took twice as long to spin on its axis?
Days and nights would be twice as long, obviously. The slower rotation would have impacts on the weather, much of which is driven by the Earth spinning. Days would be warmer and nights cooler, for example, because each spot on the Earth would have twice as long in the sunshine to heat up, with twice as long at night for heat to radiate away.
What effect would an increase in clouds have on earth's climate?
Cloud cover prevents Sunlight from reaching the Earth's surface, keeping the earth cooler.Cloud cover prevents heat escaping into space, keeping the Earth warmer.
What happens to solar energy when it reached earth?
Solar energy that reaches the Earth is either absorbed, or reflected back into space. Water or clouds reflect the energy, and about 30% of all the sunlight that hits the Earth is reflected away. Of the solar energy, that is absorbed, some of it becomes heat, and some of that is re-radiated into space at night. This is why clear nights are often so cold; the Earth's heat is being radiated back into space. On cloudy nights, the heat is trapped between the surface and the clouds, keeping things warmer. Some of the sunlight/heat goes into evaporating water from lakes or rivers, and the water vapor falls as rain later on. Some of the rain is trapped in reservoirs, or runs through dams and turbines, so hydroelectric power is actually solar power. Some of the sunlight is absorbed by plants, and the living cells of the plants use photosynthesis to convert other matter such as soil and water into wood or plant matter. If we burn the wood, we're actually releasing solar energy back into the environment. Plants die and fall to the ground, and eventually decay. Over the course of millions of years, the decaying organic material becomes fossilized, compressed, and transformed; it becomes coal, or oil, or natural gas. Those "fossil fuels" are actually million-year-old trapped solar energy! The energy balance of the Earth is maintained because if the Earth heats up much, the heat helps evaporate water that forms clouds; the clouds are reflective, and more sunlight is reflected away.
What do seasons cause?
As the seasons change, they cause the weather to change also. For example, if the season is Winter then the weather will be colder because in Winter the Earth is facing further away from the Sun. But if it is Summer, then the weather will be warmer, because the Earth is closer to the Sun, making the atmosphere warmer.
Why do currents flow faster at the equator than at the polls?
Because the water is warmer at the equator than at the pole. The warmer ocean water is the faster the currents move and the colder the water is the slow the currents move.
Cloudy nights can be warmer than clear nights because clouds trap heat -?
absorbed by Earth during daylight hours"
Why is it that cloudy nights are usually warmer than clear ones?
Because the clouds cover up the cold air that tries to get into Earth.
Why are cloudy night warmer than clear night?
because of the greenhouse effect
How can cloudy nights be warmer then clear nights?
Clouds prevent heat from being radiated out into space, it is reflected back to earth, much like a blanket keeps you warm.
Why cloudy days and nights are warmer than the cloudless one?
because night clouds prevent heat from escaping through the atmosphere and into space.And this process called radiational cooling
Are cloudy nights lightly to be warmer than clear nights?
Generally, yes. Radiative cooling when there are no clouds makes things cooler - all things being equal , of course...
Why are cloudy days cooler but cloudy nights warmer than the clear ones?
During a clear night, as heat absorbed by the earth during the day seeps out, the atmosphere allows the heat to pass through. During a cloudy night, however, the clouds catch and retain the heat in the atmosphere.Clouds trap heat being reflected from the earthThe heat radiation lost from the earth gets reflected by the clouds back to the earth, warming it. Whereas on a clear night it just escapes into space.
Are cloudy nights usually warmer or colder than clear nights?
Warmer, they have a greenhouse effect and trap heat.
Why cloudy nights are warer than the clear nights?
Why are you warmer when you have a blanket on your bed than when you have nothing on your bed? Heat radiates into space. Clouds hold the radiation close to the earth and prevent it from escaping into space. Clouds work the same way a blanket works.
Why air is cooler when the sky is cloudy?
actually the air is warmer because the clouds act as insulation and keep the heat in
When the sky is cloudy the air is cooler why?
actually the air is warmer because the clouds act as insulation and keep the heat in
Why our cloudy nights warmer than clear nights?
When the air is clear, heat radiates from the ground into space, with a temperature difference of about 290 degrees C. ("Space" has a temperature of about -270 degrees C, or 4 degrees Kelvin.) When there are clouds, the ground radiates heat to the clouds, with a temperature difference of a few dozen degrees C.
