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?
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Things can *definitely* cool past ambient temp, with strings attached. The manner in which heat is lost plays the key role, and the item will not stay cooler once the process stops.
One way (in open air) uses water as a mediator. Dry warm air pulls water off of warm thing – and some of the heat with it. We used this out in Afghanistan to cool our water and whatever else. Put drinks in socks, tie to something (preferably a vehicle) wet sock down, move around. After about a 10min drive our 130°f water was actually *cold* and it took maybe ¼ bottle of water to sufficiently cool.
Another way (relevant link below) is by converting heat to EM radiation (light), infrared, in this case. Our atmosphere captures most of that but there is a band which isn’t recaptured by the gasses. Converting heat to this particular wavelength allows it to shoot off into space and be completely lost to the planet (but not the universe).
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