Something I rarely hear discussed around the MLB home run boom, maybe because it's just too obvious (?):
Warm weather -> less dense air -> balls fly farther. Recent years have been record warm. Does that have any measurable or meaningful effect?
Warm weather -> less dense air -> balls fly farther. Recent years have been record warm. Does that have any measurable or meaningful effect?
http://theconversation.com/why-we-think-the-weather-affects-...
For comparison, a ball hit 400 ft at Yankee Stadium (400 ft elevation) would go 440 ft at Coors Field (5280 ft elevation). That's a 10% increase in ball distance for a 17% decrease in density. Increasing the temp by 5 degrees F drops the density by 0.8%, which is probably only good for 1-3 feet.
https://chem.libretexts.org/Exemplars_and_Case_Studies/Exemp...