If deserts are the hottest places... why are their nights freezing cold? | Neil deGrasse Tyson

Stand in the Sahara at noon and the heat is brutal. Stand in the same place at midnight and you will be shivering. The paradox has a physical answer, and it starts with the sky. Deserts are dry, which means there is almost no water vapor overhead to act as a blanket, and few clouds to trap the day's heat. Sand itself holds almost no memory of warmth. The moment the sun drops, the heat escapes straight back to space. That same physics explains why the ocean stays mild while the desert swings wildly, why Antarctica is technically the largest desert on Earth, why snow has fallen in Ain Sefra, and why the Moon swings from plus 127 to minus 173 degrees. The desert is not hot because it keeps heat. It is hot because it cannot keep it at all. #NeilDeGrasseTyson #DesertNights #Sahara #ClimateScience #EarthScience