They insulate the earth from the cold, barren wasteland of outer space.
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.
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 the day, clouds help reflect sunlight, reducing the amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth's surface and thereby moderating temperature. At night, clouds act as a blanket, trapping heat and preventing it from escaping into the atmosphere, which can result in warmer temperatures near the surface.
The blanket of gray clouds you see is likely stratus clouds. Stratus clouds are low-level clouds that cover the sky like a blanket and often bring overcast conditions with possible light drizzle or snow. Nimbus clouds are associated with precipitation, while cumulus clouds are puffy and usually indicate fair weather.
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.
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.
The cloud cover helps to keep the heat from the day in, much like an insulating blanket.
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.
Thick clouds act as a blanket by trapping heat coming from the Earth's surface, thus preventing it from escaping into space. This warms the air underneath the clouds and helps to maintain a more stable temperature throughout the night.
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 the day, clouds help reflect sunlight, reducing the amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth's surface and thereby moderating temperature. At night, clouds act as a blanket, trapping heat and preventing it from escaping into the atmosphere, which can result in warmer temperatures near the surface.
An African Savanna is hot in the day and cold at night because in the day, the sun heats up the earth, and Africa is at the equator, where the sun has a smaller area to heat, so it is extremely hot. But at night, it is extremely cold because there are no clouds to keep the heat in, so the heat just escapes. Think of the clouds as a blanket over the world. No blanket, no heat.
well... during the day the sun heats up the earth. and when night falls and its cloudy the clouds act like a blanket and keep the heat in better than if it was not cloudy at night. (Just wanted to tell that i didn't think of this someone else did.)
The blanket of gray clouds you see is likely stratus clouds. Stratus clouds are low-level clouds that cover the sky like a blanket and often bring overcast conditions with possible light drizzle or snow. Nimbus clouds are associated with precipitation, while cumulus clouds are puffy and usually indicate fair weather.
Cloud cover acts as a barrier or blanket preventing heat from rising into space. This is why deserts, with no cloud, are often extremely cold at 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.
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.