"Going up 1000 ft in altitude is the same as going 300 miles north,"

[raccoon]

or something similar? Anyone heard this rule of thumb?

(I've googled and can't find it.)

Correction-I think it's 1000 ft.

I'm referring to temperature. Generally speaking, when you go up in altitude, the temperature drops.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Is there something missing there

Waht is the starting point ? In other words north from where.

[zipplewrath]

2. Energy, temperature, solar exposure?

What the heck are you talking about?

[doc03]

3. That is a stretch I would say. The Ohio river in this area

is about 600 feet above sea level, I live about 7 miles from the river at about 1100 above sea level. So that means the climate at my place would be like being 1500 miles north, I don't think so. There is some difference though many times in the winter it snows several inches at home and they get rain on the river. I wouldn't be surprised if that was true for 1000 feet perhaps. When I went to the top of Pikes Peak a few years ago it was 34º up there and around 80º in Colorado Springs.

[Speck Tater]

4. I found a power point slide from "colby.edu"

that says: "4ºC drop in temperature for every 1000 m increase in altitude (= 100 miles north)"

www.colby.edu/biology/BI271/Lectures/Rainfall2.ppt

On edit: That seems pretty extreme to me. I'm not sure it's reliable.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Strange that also has a diagram showing a drop from 20C to -4C with 3000m altitude gain

(slide 7). A drop of 24C with 3000m, ie 8C for 1000m, is closer to my experience - I remember about 25C for 2800m (from 1000m to 3800m) for a mountain with a temperature guage at top and bottom, during summer.

4C for 100m north sounds ridiculous to me, though. sarge43's "1000 feet of altitude = temp drop of 5.5F, dry air or 3.5F, saturated air, approximately 300 miles north" just below seems about right - 5.5F is about 3C, and 1000ft about 300m, so that would be 10C in dry air for 1000m, and somewhat less with more humidity. And that would be more like 1000 miles north.

[sarge43]

5. Rough rule of thumb

1000 feet of altitude = temp drop of 5.5F, dry air or 3.5F, saturated air, approximately 300 miles north.

http://www.wrds.uwyo.edu/sco/climateatlas/climate_change.html (paragraph 1.2, Topography and Geography of Wyoming)

[Tanuki]

6. It's known as the lapse rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapse_rate

snip> "The environmental lapse rate (ELR), is the rate of decrease of temperature with altitude in the stationary atmosphere at a given time and location. As an average, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) defines an international standard atmosphere (ISA) with a temperature lapse rate of 6.49 K(°C)/1,000 m (3.56 °F or 1.98 K(°C)/1,000 Ft) from sea level to 11 km (36,090 ft). From 11 km (36,090 ft or 6.8 mi) up to 20 km (65,620 ft or 12.4 mi), the constant temperature is −56.5 °C (−69.7 °F), which is the lowest assumed temperature in the ISA. The standard atmosphere contains no moisture. Unlike the idealized ISA, the temperature of the actual atmosphere does not always fall at a uniform rate with height. For example, there can be an inversion layer in which the temperature increases with height." <snip

[Wilms]

7. In some parts of Southern California a 5 or even 15 degree drop per 1000 foot rise regularly occurs.

In the winter that is. It's the opposite in summer.

Surprised me.

[Ready4Change]

8. It's true.

That's why, even in summer heat, high flying aircraft leave contrails. The burnt fuel contains a lot of water vapor, and the freezing cold temps at high altitudes freeze that water into very fine ice crystals.

I used to fly private planes, and in the summer going up 5 or 10 thousand feet could be quite a relief.

[havocmom]

10. Offer does not apply to those living in southern hemisphere

:evilgrin: