Location and Cold Weather

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It's known to everybody that the lower you go in elevation the warmer it gets so why is it that seattle is colder that dallas, TX even though seattle a sea level and dallas is higher?

Melinda L.

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The logic in this question definitely seems sound. If you think well, the higher up you, the colder it gets. For sure! The atmosphere is thinner and temperature decreases as you head up in the vertical, right on. However, elevation isn't the only determining factor in looking at temperature forecasts.

If we remember some weather basics you'll figure out why Seattle is colder than Dallas. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is colder the farther north you go with the north pole at the top. Florida is warm while New York is a much colder climate.

So even though Dallas's elevation is around 695 feet and Seattle's is at about 433 feet, Seattle has is more north or has a more northern Latitude. The Latitude at the equator is 0 and 90 degrees North at the North Pole. Salt Lake's Latitude is 40 degrees North but Miami is at 25 degrees North. The bigger number in degrees (angles not temperature) is more north.

Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman.