How Does Temperature Affect Home Runs?

How Does Temperature Affect Home Runs?

By Steve Pool

SEATTLE - Seattle: Where home runs go to die. But it's not just due to ballpark dimensions -- Mother Nature has a hand in keeping our pitchers happy.

Thanks to warm air being less dense than cold air, baseballs will travel further on warm days than cold days. Thus, it's much easier to hit a home run here during a (rare) warm day game than a (frequent) cool night game.

Air pressure also affects air density. The higher pressures at parks near sea level (like Seattle) are tougher to hit homers in than parks at higher elevations (like Denver -- where the mile-high altitude can add as much as 20-40 feet to a would-be homer)

Humidity doesn’t have a real affect on baseball. Humid air is less dense than dry air, but the added water weight on a baseball counter-balances any additional distance from the lighter air.

For More Information:

ggweather.com
www.exploratorium.edu

Icon
Current Temp 50 °F
Overcast
More Weather

Travel Times

Traffic

On Demand

Resources and info you need to prepare for the switch to DTV.

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.