Why are cloudy nights warmer than clear, star-lit nights?

In daytime the sun heats the earth, more so on clear days than on cloudy days for obvious reasons.





At night, that energy slowly fades away, but if there's clouds, it's like a blanket keeping it in, while it can disappear faster when there's no clouds (clear, starlit night).





Think of it like a warm water bottle. it gives off more heat and cools down more quickly without the cover than with it - that's one of the reasons why you're advised to always put a cover around it. (Well, that and not getting burnt because too much heat is released at once.)





Hope that helpsWhy are cloudy nights warmer than clear, star-lit nights?
clouds hole precipitation, and they weigh more, because they are filled with wet heat. Clouds are almost like a security blanket, over your town or city. When it is clear outside, wind gusts and dry air form a cold air mass that strikes in your town or city.


I hope i can help,


Meteorologist: Heather.Why are cloudy nights warmer than clear, star-lit nights?
it is'nt warm here its cold cloudy or not
Water vapour is a powerful absorber of heat radiation emitted by the earth's surface.So when there is a layer of low or medium clouds, the water vapour present in the cloud does not allow the earth cool rapidly in the nights.The water vapour in the cloud absorbs the heat from the earth and re-radiates back to the earth's surface when the earth's surface starts cooling and the temperature becomes lower than that of the cloud in nights.So, there is a less cooling of the surface and the atmosphere near the surface becomes warm and sultry.Thus this portion of radiation will thus remain confined in between the cloud and the earth.Therefore the cloudy nights are warmer.


In general, the clouds will tend to smooth out the variation of temperature by keeping the temperature low by day and comparatively high at night.


The effect of the water vapour and that of the cloud layer is also called as the greenhouse effect.
On a cold cloudless night heat energy (infrared photons) can radiate into outer space. Clouds block the escape of heat energy.
The clouds act like a thermal blanket, when they cover an area, they keep the heat in, but a clear night, there is no blanket to keep the heat, so it gets away faster, cooling it off more.
Arasan gave a very good answer to this question. To all that said that clouds act like blankets--that's not really true. Blankets keep us warm by insulating and suppressing convection; clouds keep us warm by radiating infrared radiation back to Earth.
because the clouds act like blankets to keep us warm,,,
The clouds act like a blanket and keep the heat in.
the clouds keep the heat in lol
the moisture in the air (clouds) deflects escaping heat sort of like a blanket
the water vapour that form the clouds act like the quilt on your bed they cover the world and stop heat radiating back out into space.
Yes, the individual tiny water droplets which the clouds are composed act to absorb heat emitted from the surface. They then re-radiate some of that heat back downward toward the surface, thus keeping the surface air warmer than if the clouds were not there.