Rod has probably hit the nail on the head.
There is another possibility - Thermal Inversion.
When layers of warm air form above layers of cold air, the condition known as temperature inversion develops. This phenomenon causes ducts or channels to be formed, by sandwiching cool air either between the surface of the earth and a layer of warm air, or between two layers of warm air. If a transmitting antenna extends into such a duct, or if the radio wave enters the duct at a very low angle of incidence, vhf and uhf transmissions may be propagated far beyond normal line-of-sight distances. These long distances are possible because of the different densities and refractive qualities of warm and cool air. The sudden change in densities when a radio wave enters the warm air above the duct causes the wave to be refracted back toward earth. When the wave strikes the earth or a warm layer below the duct, it is again reflected or refracted upward and proceeds on through the duct with a multiple-hop type of action.
