[pct-l] adiabatic/katabatic air

[CMountainDave at aol.com (CMountainDave@aol.com)]

In a message dated 1/5/04 10:13:21 AM, Steven.Setzer@Colorado.EDU writes:

<< This summer I spent a few days in the Colorodo mountains climing 14ers.  I
camped in the same area every night and did day hikes from camp.  Every
night my buddy slept down by a creek and I camped about 100 yard away and
maybe 50 feet higher.  In the morning, I'd wake up warm and dry.  As I
walked downhill to wake my friend up, I'd feel the air get suddenly
colder.  >>>
Oh how true this is! We were camped in the Olympics and the exact same thing 
occurred: all the cold air sank and stayed along the creek bed. It was cold 
and damp. You could see your breath and people were dressed warmly with hats on. 
I climbed up a hill about 200 vertical feet to a clearing and it was sunny, 
warm and dry. I stripped down to shorts and took a sun bath for a couple of 
hours. When I went back to the main camp, everyone was still bundled up. They 
thought I was nuts when I told them how much warmer it was just a few hundred 
yards away uphill