I was standing outside just a moment ago because I forgot to bring my shoes in, and I noticed that I could hear sounds a lot clearer than on a warmer night. This intrigued me enough to think about what's going on. The simple explanation I could come up with is the air is a lot stiller, and there's less scattering going on. Colder air tends to be dryer too, so perhaps less water vapour to do the scattering. It's also denser, so the sound travels a bit faster.
Looking online, it turns out (I'm now too tired to think more deeply since I've been up since about 6 am today) that during cold nights, there is a layer inversion such that warmer air is above and colder air trapped below, this does make sense since warm air rises. This inversion traps sound waves and allows for the sound to travel farther and better horizontally. So no wonder I could hear conversations about half a mile away and the plane above sounded so loud, though it must be pretty darn high up. Cool huh?
Looking online, it turns out (I'm now too tired to think more deeply since I've been up since about 6 am today) that during cold nights, there is a layer inversion such that warmer air is above and colder air trapped below, this does make sense since warm air rises. This inversion traps sound waves and allows for the sound to travel farther and better horizontally. So no wonder I could hear conversations about half a mile away and the plane above sounded so loud, though it must be pretty darn high up. Cool huh?
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