How Does Altitude Affect Climate?
Altitude affects climate in that the higher up you get, the more the temperature drops. The temperature goes down roughly 4 degrees Fahrenheit for every 1,000 feet you climb. Altitude is the subject’s distance from the sea. This is why a lot of high-up places such as mountaintops often get snow for most of the year when other places do not, no matter how low the temperature drops.
The higher the pressure of any gas, such as air, the warmer it becomes. When pressure is relieved, the gas cools. On Earth, the air pressure is approximately 14.7 pounds per square inch at sea level. At about 50,000 feet above sea level, the air pressure is reduced to about 1.6 pounds per square inch. This means that in those areas, the temperature is extremely low.