Temperature at Altitude Calculator

Calculate what the temperature will be at certain altitudes based on the temperature at the surface level. This quick and easy-to-use tool is free forever and mobile friendly.

Required Information

Temperature at Sea Level (T₀):

Altitude (h):

Result:

How does it

How Does Altitude Affect Temperature?

Create Date: August 22, 2024

Last Modified Date: January 15, 2025

Altitude directly impacts temperature because the higher up you get the less air pressure there is present, this allows air molecules to spread out thus reducing the temperature at the altitude. With air molecules more spread out it becomes more difficult for them to retain the heat.

How to Calculate Temperature at Certain Altitudes

If you wanted to use the formula for calculating the temperature of certain altitudes, you can use this one:

An image showing the formula for finding the temperature at a certain altitude.

Where:

T(h) = Temperature at your specific altitude
T₀ = Temperature at sea level
L = Standard temperature lapse rate (approximately 0.0065°C per meter or 6.5°C per 1,000 meters or approximately 3.57°F per 1,000 feet or 0.00357°F per foot)
H = Altitude above sea level

Understanding Your Results

Your result is automatically displayed as cubic inches as it is one of the more popular units of measurement for this type of metric, but another commonly used unit is liters. So once you hit calculate and get your engine displacement value, that is how much volume and space your engine's cylinders have in total.

How to Use the Altitude Temperature Calculator

You will not find a more simple altitude temperature calculator online! To use ours, you simply have to:

Enter the temperature at sea level.

Change the unit of measurement to Celsius or kelvins if needed, or keep it at Fahrenheit.

Enter the altitude at which you want to find the temperature of.

Change the unit of measurement from feet to another one if feet is not best suited for you.

Hit calculate and get your answer in a second! Also, you can change the unit of measurement for your resulting temperature if needed.

Example Calculation

You are trying to calculate the temperature of an altitude of 45,710 feet when the sea level temperature is 50 °F. After you plug in these numbers, our tool does the following calculation: T(45,710) = 50 - (.00357 * 49,710). The result is a temperature of about -127.17 °F

Altitude & Temperature - Frequently Asked Questions

In the troposphere, every 1,000 feet there is about a 3.5 degree F difference in air temperature. The troposphere goes about as far as 10 miles off the surface of the earth for reference.

30,000 Feet is about the elevation that commercial planes fly. At these heights, the temperature is around −40 to −70 °F.

There is little to no moisture 30,000 feet in the air, this means there is little to no moisture. So there may be instances of ice build up, but it is typically very minimal. Also, the engines produce a lot of heat themselves, then when you are landing the temperature rises so any ice of frozen components will thaw quickly.

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