Low-pressure area it rises, although the low-pressure area typically brings cloudy skies, which act to minimize diurnal temperature extremes. Since clouds reflect sunlight, incoming shortwave solar radiation decreases, which causes lower temperatures during the day. At night the absorptive effect of clouds on outgoing longwave radiation, such as heat energy from the surface, allows for warmer diurnal low temperatures in all seasons. The stronger the area of low pressure, the stronger the winds experienced in its vicinity. Globally, low-pressure systems are most frequently located over the Tibetan Plateau and in the lee of the Rocky mountains. In Europe (particularly in the British
High-pressure area neighboring regions. These Highs change character and weaken once they move further over relatively warmer water bodies. Somewhat weaker but more common are high-pressure areas caused by atmospheric subsidence, that is, areas where large masses of cooler drier air descend from an elevation of 8 to 15 km after the lower temperatures have precipitated out the water vapor. Many of the features of Highs may be understood in context of middle- or meso-scale and relatively enduring dynamics of a planet's atmospheric circulation. For example, massive atmospheric subsidences occur as part of the descending branches of Ferrel cells and Hadley cells.