The Drive to Reno is Really Cold... Why???

So for the last week, I've been in Reno, NV for the American College Theatre Festival Region VII competition. Driving to Reno, due to the complete lack of anything to do and the really bad music the people I was carpooling with insist on playing for the entire two hour drive, I couldn't help but notice the temperature drop and drop and the weather get more and more snowy. This reminded me of something we've been learning in Physical Geography lately about temperature and the variables that control it. These variables are latitude, altitude, and continentality. The thing that seems to affect the temperature on the drive to Reno is the altitude change. On the way to Reno, one has to go over mountains. This is, obviously, a change in altitude from Sacramento; a change something in the neighborhood of several thousands of feet. The temperature hits it's lowest point as you're going through Donner Pass, the highest point on the mountains. The temperature drops as one gets higher up in altitude. The temperature gets higher again once you get over the mountains and into Reno because you drop in altitude again.

Weather and temperature changes are a strangely welcome distraction when one is driving through the vast, barren landscape while being forced to listen to German orchestral metal...