When describing color temperatures, the "warm" color tones actually have colder temperatures.
So lets say if you compare the color temperatures of 2500 K vs 5000 K, the 2500 K would have more red light and usually is described as "warm" light, even though it is called a lower temperature at the same time.
(Yeah I know the color temperatures in Kelvin have smth to do with black body radiation, but I wonder if the red light = warm and blue light = cold has some evolutionary background or that blue light has been discovered wayyyy later (blue LEDs etc.).)
Fires are red/yellow. I’d imagine that’s a potential reason yellow light is “warm”
Also a bleak winter day is usually mostly whites and blues.
Also in low light, our eyes are more sensitive to blue light, so moonlight (though not necessarily the moon itself) appears bluer than sunlight. Especially in contrast to nearby fire and coals.
Heres a good minutephysics video on this topic: https://youtu.be/mqZm6u12RJA
TL;DW: Most lights used to be hot glowy things, e.g. fire, light bulbs or the sun. Those start glowing red hot at relatively low temperatures and become white hot at high temperatures. That's where the inverse scale comes from.
Uh, didnt know minutephysics had a video on this, thanks for sharing!
Look at someone who is cold, their lips are blue, someone who is hot, will be red.