because of the greenhouse effect
On a clear night, there are no clouds to trap heat near the Earth's surface, allowing it to radiate rapidly into space. This rapid cooling effect causes temperatures to drop more sharply compared to a night with cloud cover where the clouds act as a blanket, trapping heat and insulating the Earth.
During a clear night, heat from the surface of the Earth radiates out into space since there are no clouds to trap it. Clouds act as a blanket, trapping heat near the surface and preventing it from escaping, which leads to warmer temperatures on cloudy nights compared to clear nights.
Cloudy nights have high temperatures than clear nights because clouds trap heat radiated from the Earth's surface, creating a greenhouse effect that keeps the air warmer. On clear nights, without clouds to trap the heat, it escapes back into space, causing temperatures to drop.
In most cases, clear blue sunny sky. Convective (Thunderstorm) clouds can build up as high at 50,000ft but this is unusual. Temperatures above 18,000ft are almost always below freezing so the chance of rain above those clouds is also unlikely. Weather systems can also have many different types of clouds at different varying heights with lots of clear air in between.
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.
In general, clouds lead to cooler daytime temperature because they block the direct rays of sunlight from reaching the earth. A major exception to this is in snow and ice-covered regions.
because of the greenhouse effect
In a high pressure system, you are more likely to see clear skies because air descends and inhibits cloud formation. However, if there are any clouds present, they are usually thin and wispy cirrus clouds at higher altitudes.
The presence of clouds at night can act as a blanket, trapping heat and preventing it from escaping into the atmosphere. This can lead to a milder temperature compared to clear nights when heat escapes more easily.
When there are no clouds in the sky, the weather is usually clear and sunny.
Clear. Cloudless.
On a clear night, there are no clouds to trap heat near the Earth's surface, allowing it to radiate rapidly into space. This rapid cooling effect causes temperatures to drop more sharply compared to a night with cloud cover where the clouds act as a blanket, trapping heat and insulating the Earth.
Since clouds are cool moist air, and cold air is heavier than warm air, the cloud cover holds down the warmth that accumulates during the day and keeps the ambient temperature slightly higher over night.
During daylight hours, clouds reflect solar radiation back to space. Therefore, the maximum temperature is lower than if the sky were clear. At night, the minimum temperature will not fall as low because clouds retard the loss of heat.
An inversion is produced whenever radiation from the surface of the earth exceeds the amount of radiation received from the sun, which commonly occurs at night, or during the winter when the angle of the sun is very low in the sky In the troposphere (the lowest layer of the atmosphere closest to the earth) temperature as a general rule decreases with altitude. That is, the higher up in the air, or the higher up in the mountains, the colder the air becomes. A temperature inversion is a reversal of this general rule, such that the temperature at the surface is colder than the air above it, or the temperature at some altitude increases for a certain vertical distance. On a clear winter night, the earth may lose heat since there are no clouds to absorb heat and hold it near to the surface; in the morning when the sun warms the air a temperature inversion may result. - pianodriver
The answer all depends on what is happening with the weather at any given time. North Dakota and Fargo have times of clear weather and times of clouds, and sometimes they have both clear weather in part of the state and clouds in another part of the state.