Why Hill stations are cooler than sea level regions even though they are closer to Sun than sea level regions?
404726
First, a high elevation on Earth is not that much closer to the sun than sea level is when you consider the great distance from Earth to the sun.\n\nThe temperature changes have to do with air pressure... there is less of an atmosphere to hold in the heat at a high elevation than there is at sea level.  You might notice that cities at high elevation also have widely varying temperatures between day and night.  Here it will warm up in the day easily without much atmosphere to reflect energy from the sun, but at night it's like just having a sheet over you--the heat escapes easily.  At sea level you will warm up more slowly but hold that heat in much longer because you have a giant blanket of atmosphere over you, and higher air pressure to maintain the heat.  \n\nAlso at sea level, if you are by the sea, you have the added effect of the ocean or sea keeping the air temperate (around the same temperature all the time) since water maintains it temperature better than the air.
79918
Because it's closest to Earth and doesn't have much of a cloud layer like Venus does.
908777
Temperature is temperature no matter what elevation or altitude you are at - no need to know it.\n\nIf you want to correct station pressure readings to sea level for a weather station, then it may be helpful. The most practical and a reasonably accurate method though is to simply set your barometer several times (making small adjustments) to the sea level pressure using data from a good surface chart during daytime on a nice day with a weak pressure gradient (when it'll be very similar over tens of miles). Here is a good site for observations the past hour:\n\nhttp://www-frd.fsl.noaa.gov/mab/metar\n\nThey say data are experimental and not always accurate blah blah blah - but I never saw an error in METAR listings for any of the stations nor their locations - though you have to be able to read METAR reports. E-mail me if you wish regarding this.\n\nWhatever the case, Topozone is good if you want your elevation for any particular reason:\n\nhttp://www.topozone.com
124801
that's only true in the northern hemisphere. it's because moss likes shade, and the north side of anything in the northern hemisphere is the shady side
1044855
I've read about the angle of incidence answer in many elementary school books. At best, it is misleading. The fact that sunlight is more direct during the summer has little to do with the amount of radiation a hemisphere of the Earth collects. The Earth's tilt does however dictate how many hours of sunlight a hemisphere receives. In the northern hemisphere when the Earth is tilted toward the Sun (June, July, August) the north gets more hours of sunlight. More hours of sunlight equates with more collected radiation and that equates with hotter temperatures. Having said that, this isn't the entire story. If it were then the North Pole would be the hottest place on Earth during June, July, and August... and it isn't. So weather patterns play an important role in moving the heat to specific places.
458635
It is warmer closer to the surface of the earth b/c of gravity & air acting as an insulator. Sounds strange???\n\nLet me explain...\n\nAir holds heat. It is an insulator.\n\nMost of the air is found in the troposphere, the layer closest to the earth's surface. Why???\n\nAir has mass just as we do. All objects having mass obey the laws of gravity.\n\nSince gravity is greatest closest to the surface of the earth, the gas molecules in the air will be pulled more closely to the earth.\n\nSince the insulator (gas molecules) is closer to the surface, heat will be held at the surface.\n\nThe higher you go, the less gravity & therefore there will be less air & less heat.\n\n:)
536458
The higher you go the thinner the air, if there is less air then there is less mass to hold the heat from the sun.
1164278
Sea level is about 20 cm higher on the Pacific side due to the water being less dense on average on the Pacific side and due to the prevailing weather and ocean conditions. The locks just get the boats over the hills.
600123
Because climate isn't just determined by latitude, but by distance from the sea, if there are mountains near by, weather patterns and a lot of other things.
970970
This is not a simple answer to explain in one or two sentences, so I will give it in two parts.  First, the basic reason:\n\nOvernight, the breezy conditions that was on the surface is lifted upwards.  This is because the surface becomes very stable with the loss of daytime heating.  The wind will blow above this layer of stable air until after sunrise when daytime heating will bring the winds back to the surface.\n\nNow the more detailed explaination.  In general, wind at night will decouple from the surface if...\n-there is no strong subsidence (sinking of air) like what you will find behind a strong upper level disturbance.\n-there is strong mixing (unstable airmass) in and ahead of a storms system\n-there is strong surface winds with upper level support. (winds blowing from the same direction through a deep layer above the surface)\n-near ridge or hill tops\n\n(Assuming no major weather changes are expected to occur overnight...)  During the night, with the loss of daytime heating, we lose two parameters that will keep the winds blowing near the surface.  The thermal gradient usually becomes weak and the surface cools.  A thin stable layer forms near the surface as heat rises to the top of this layer.  With time, this layer will thicken as warm air continues to leave the lower layer and replace by cooler air.  The top of this layer, you will find a temperature inversion.  This layer will seperate the higher winds that has lifted higher in the atmosphere and the very stable and near calm winds below.  Once the sun rises, the surface warms and starts to mix.  This will break the inversion and the winds will start to mix back down to the surface.  \n\nThis is also the reason why during the winter, sometimes you will find ground fog forming in a thin layer during the evening and then lifting to a low cloud or stratus right by sunrise; then "burning" off during the day.
801912
First the distance change is totally negligible.  Also, unless the mountain is near the equator and you are climbing around noon, you are usually not getting closer anyway.\n\nThat said, the sun does not give much heat in the form of heat.  The sun gives energy in the form of mostly visible light.  That light gets absorbed by opaque object, namely the ground, which then re-emits infrared (heat) energy. So, technically, climbing a mountain gets you further from the bulk of the energy re-emitter.\nBut the real reason of the cool down of altitude is due to the drop in atmospheric pressure.  Take a volume of air at sea level, and bring it up to altitude.  Because of the lower pressure, that air will expand. But any expanding gas cools, and that explains why the air gets colder the higher you get.
1084244
It is because of the sea currents of the Pacific.\nThey are cold and generate dryness conditions.\nThe same effect happens in the South Hemisphere.\nThis effect, disappears the more you go east after the mountains.\nIt is very dry on the coast until the 42-45° parallel, and then, going norther in the case of North America or souther in the case of South America, becomes a lot more humid.\nThat's the difference between California and the British Columbia for example.\nAnd between north Chile and south Chile.
26023
Because your part of the earth is too far away from the sun.
1169790
because the sun is in the middle of setting
519909
It's a combination of less sunlight & density currents.\n\nCold salty water is very dense. It sinks. This along w/ surface flow created by winds creates currents in the sea.\n\nCold water ends up on the bottom.\n\nThe amount of geothermal energy located on the ocean floor is negligible here. It only makes a difference on a local scale. The ocean floor is very deep and very large. Too much space for geothermal vents to heat.
57358
Sunny days are the result of high pressure systems which tend to be drier and colder in the winter. There is also no cloud cover at night to keep the reradiation in and if there is snow on the ground it is even brighter and the snow is reflecting the heat back out into space.
475577
You would surmise, that since the sun is the source of the heat for the\nearth and atmosphere, that the atmosphere should be warmer at points closer\nto the sun, like at the TOP of the atmosphere, instead of the reverse.\n\n   But the atmosphere is not warmed directly by the sun...it is warmed by the\nEARTH...!  Most of the energy from the sun arrives at the earth in the form\nof light energy, or short-wave energy. The atmosphere is transparent to\nshort-wave energy, and most of the solar energy reaches the surface of the\nearth, where it is absorbed. This energy warms the surface of the earth,\nwhich, in turn, warms the atmosphere with long-wave energy. The type of\nenergy radiated by a star primarily depends on the temperature. So the\nenergy from the sun arrives at the earth as short-wave (in the visible part\nof the spectrum) energy, and leaves the earth as long-wave (in the infra-red\npart of the spectrum) energy.\n\n   The atmosphere is not transparent to long-wave radiation, and absorbs the\nheat energy from the earth. That part of the atmosphere closest to the earth\ngets the most energy and is the warmest.\n\n   Because the sun is nearly overhead in the latitudes nearest the equator,\nthose locations receive more solar energy per unit area, and become warmer\nthan those locations near the poles. This difference in the amount of energy\nreceived and subsequent heating of the atmosphere and evaporation of water\nfrom the lakes and oceans, is what drives the "weather machine" on the\nearth.