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Why on Earth did Campo, a desert town southeast of San Diego, drop to 29 degrees early Sunday?

Skies were clear Thursday, but the temperature didn't hit 70, as expected, in San Dietgo
Clear skies overnight helped drop Campo’s temperature to 29 degrees on Sunday
(NWS)
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This will seem like a misprint. But the temperature in Campo — a desert community 41 miles southeast of San Diego — dropped to 29 degrees just before dawn on Sunday. The average pre-dawn low temperature at that location this time of year is about 55 degrees.

The reading “not only breaks a daily record, but ties their all-time record for the month of June set back in 1977!,” the National Weather Service said in a message posted on Twitter.

So what caused the huge drop?

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Forecaster Brian Adams tied it to radiation cooling, the process in which the ground radiates away heat during the night. This phenomenon can lead to incredible temperature drops if the skies are clear, the winds are light, and the air is dry. All three of those conditions occurred on Sunday.

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