# Do clouds reflect sound?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 7, 2020, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070 "2020-09-07T22:30:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 13

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**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070/13 "2020-09-08T11:23:33Z")

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> [@squeegee](#):
>
> To refract is to bend the path of something, e.g. when you put your hand in water and the image appears displaced. Refraction is not something bouncing back to the source.

Refraction is exactly what is happening:

> **[Refraction (sound)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refraction_(sound))**
>
> Refraction, in acoustics, comparable to the refraction of electromagnetic radiation, is the bending of sound propagation trajectories (rays) in inhomogeneous elastic media (gases, liquids, and solids) in which the wave velocity is a function of spatial coordinates. Bending of acoustic rays in layered inhomogeneous media occurs towards a layer with a smaller sound velocity. This effect is responsible for guided propagation of sound waves over long distances in the ocean and in the atmosphere.
> In ...

A **[google image search for “atmospheric sound refraction”](https://www.google.com/search?q=atmospheric+sound+refraction&sxsrf=ALeKk03F4OJEpa_uRX5wuVj1af4hOS0BBQ:1599563833121&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiIg8bQt9nrAhUumnIEHSR0A8QQ_AUoAXoECBkQAw&biw=1417&bih=1260)** provides numerous illustrations of what’s happening.

From **[this site](https://www.britannica.com/science/sound-physics/Refraction)**:

> At night or during periods of dense cloud cover, a [temperature inversion](https://www.britannica.com/science/temperature-inversion) occurs; the temperature of the air increases with elevation, and sound waves are refracted back down to the ground. Temperature inversion is the reason why sounds can be heard much more clearly over longer distances at night than during the day—an effect often incorrectly attributed to the psychological result of nighttime quiet.

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