Met Mailbag (NBC Weather Plus Meteorologists)

August 24, 2006 | 2:30 p.m. ET

Met Mailbag is your chance to have a Weather Plus Meteorologist answer your weather question. Each Thursday, our NBC Weather Pulse Blog will publish the answers to questions you send us. This week's question was answered by NBC Weather Plus Meteorologist Bill Karins.

Question: Why is weather usually milder near the ocean?
Submitted by Joanne Gross, Chicago, Illinois.

Answer: Thanks for the wonderful question Joanne. It is usually milder near the ocean because water holds on to the heat a lot better than the land.

If you live on the ocean in a warm climate, this means the temperatures stay mild most of the time. On a hot summer day, the land warms up faster than the ocean water. This hot air then rises. In it's place, the mild air over the water rushes in over the land to replace it. This is called the sea breeze.

At night, just the opposite happens. The land cools off faster, so the air over the ocean rises and the mild, land air heads out to sea. This is called the land breeze.

Because of this daily occurrence near any ocean Joanne, the temperatures near the water appear mild in the winter and not as hot in the summer.

Thanks for the question!

To send a weather question to our Met Mailbag, click on this link, and check back next week to see if your question is answered!

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