Why does 15 degrees (59 farenheit) feel so much colder in the night, than it does during the day?

Question

Why does 15 degrees (59 farenheit) feel so much colder in the night, than it does during the day?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Because you don’t have sunlight warming everything. When the light hits surfaces and structures, those things absorb some thermal energy and heat up. So even if the air temp is only 15 deg. C, your body, the ground, or a building or vehicle that you’re in will be noticeably warmer because they’ve been absorbing the heat from sunlight. At night, without anymore sunlight to generate heat, all of those things shed the excess heat and come down closer to the air temp.