Today we are going to talk about a type of mountain breeze which is very common in many places in our country due to its mountainous nature.
In the course of clear nights the air moves along the slopes of the hills or mountains and descends into the valleys where it continues to move to the plains. This type of flow is called katabatic wind (comes from the Greek and means "down"). It sets during the night when the ground is cooled by radiation.
The air in contact with that cold ground cools down and in turn becomes denser than the surrounding air; so gravity forces you to descend the slope of the terrain and a downward air flow is established. The air remains in contact with the cold ground and continues to lose heat; therefore the heating is not adiabatic (it exchanges heat with the medium) and the movement continues.
In general, this type of mountain breeze is quite weak. However, in certain cases, when the slope is steep and smooth, it can reach considerable force. This is what happens when the surface is covered with snow or ice, something that is very common in the Antarctica. In case the mountains are close to the sea, the mountain breeze can reinforce the land breeze at night causing very strong land winds in the sea.
Finally, comment that the catabatic wind is one of the mechanisms necessary for the phenomenon of thermal inversion, since the cold air by gravity will be retained at the bottom of the valleys, the temperature being somewhat higher at the top of the mountains.