1. Why does the cold air comes down to the valley here but nowhere else?
2. Is the reason why the air at the top cooler than the air at the bottom of the valley because of the lapse rate?
3. Why does the top of the valley (mountain) get warmer than the bottom of the valley? Slope, Aspect, etc matter too?
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If you’ve ever seen liquids of different densities form distinct layers that’s basically what’s happening with the air. Cooler air is denser than warm air so it wants to sink while warm air wants to float to the top. They’re made out of the same stuff but the temperature makes them act different from each other. On a flat area the ground is warmed by the sun and that heats the air close to the ground. This is how it works in most areas, so during the day the air on the ground is the warmest part and it gets cooler the higher you go. In a valley with steep sides part of the ground will get sun on it so there’s some air warming but there’s still a lot of cooler air from the night before that wants to sink to the bottom. The higher-up parts of the valley get more light so the air is warmer the higher you go.
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