Can objects get colder than the ambient temperature around them?

Question

Say you store a vehicle outside all winter, if there was an usually cold week, say -20 degrees Fahrenheit for example, is it possible for the car to be colder than the -20 since it sat weeks prior to the -20 temps?

In: 594

Answer 1

Your asphalt roof of your carport probably gets colder than ambient on most cloudless nights. Black body radiation is a thing and that dark roof with no heat source underneath will probably continue to radiate energy.

Here is how people used to create ice in above zero conditions for thousands of years.

https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2018/07/09/how_people_created_ice_in_the_desert_2000_years_ago.html

So the answer is absolutely yes objects can get colder than ambient.