Jenny Ribble submitted a handmade Ask Todd asking "If heat
rises, why is it so cold in the mountains?" Well Jenny, that's a
great question! It has to do with two things: air density and
altitude. Air is a poor insulator of heat in general, and is
heated from below, from the ground up. So the sun heats the
ground first, then the air right above it. But as you move
further away from the ground up into the atmosphere, the heat is
filtered out and greatly diminished because the air is less
dense. Less dense air cannot hold as much heat. Higher altitudes
have thinner air as well so this is why the mountains are
colder.