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mountain breeze
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Two-panel diagram showing daytime and nighttime air circulation in a mountain valley. In the day, warm air rises up the mountainsides while cool air sinks in the center; at night, cool air flows down the slopes and warm air rises in the valley.
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mountain breeze

meteorology
Also known as: mountain wind
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Two-panel diagram showing daytime and nighttime air circulation in a mountain valley. In the day, warm air rises up the mountainsides while cool air sinks in the center; at night, cool air flows down the slopes and warm air rises in the valley.
When the valley floor warms during the day, warm air rises up the slopes of surrounding mountains and hills to create a valley breeze. At night, denser cool air slides down the slopes to settle in the valley, producing a mountain breeze.

A mountain breeze, also known as a mountain wind, is a local wind that blows down a mountain slope at night. This occurs because the mountain slopes cool faster than the surrounding air due to radiation at night. This cooling makes the air denser, causing it to flow downhill. These breezes are typically light but can become strong and gusty if channeled through narrow gorges. Mountain breezes are part of a diurnal cycle of winds influenced by the uneven heating and cooling of Earth's surface. They are the opposite of anabatic winds, which blow upslope during the day as the sun heats the mountain slopes.1234

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5 Britannica Sources
  1. breeze
  2. anabatic wind
  3. mountain wind
  4. mountain breeze
  5. climate - Local wind systems

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