Is cold air more stable than warm air?
Cold air is not more stable or unstable than warm air. The stability is in the difference of temperature between two air masses and not its absolute temperature. The average temperature fall with altitude is 0.65 degrees Celcius per 100 meters. The dry air adiabatic temperature fall is 1 C/100 m and the wet air adiabatic is 0.5 C/100 m. If, when measuring temperature at the surface and up in the atmosphere, the difference is more than 1 C/100 m then the air is said to be unstable. If it is more than 0.5 C/100 m, it is said to be stable and when it is between the two, it is said to be conditionaly unstable. Then condition then is the degree of humidity in the air. Below dew point, it will be stable but above, it will be unstable. Unstable air masses mean that convections will continue to rise until it reaches a stable temperature. But if it doesn’t and the air is colder all the way to the tropopause, it will climb all the way as it happens in a thunderstorm.
