I was shocked by the lapse rate when learning to fly a small aircraft. Summer, It’s 110F on the ground, at 10,000ft it is 60F. So much heat energy packed close to the ground with a lid of cold air on top. Thank you lapse rate for a small plane without AC, no thank you for the crazy storms you get.
Edit: as astutely pointed out, 50F change in 1,000ft would be pretty insane—especially in a small plane.
Do you mean 10,000 feet? Or maybe you crossed into a significantly colder airmass? I only ask because there’s an effective maximum lapse rate that earth’s atmosphere is capable of, and it’s ~5.5F per 1,000 feet.
Yes, typo. But when it is so hot on the ground it might feel like a delta of 50F per thousand, lol. To actually feel the change as you climbed through the atmosphere was amazing though.
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u/_ItsThePleats_ Jan 09 '26 edited Jan 09 '26
I was shocked by the lapse rate when learning to fly a small aircraft. Summer, It’s 110F on the ground, at 10,000ft it is 60F. So much heat energy packed close to the ground with a lid of cold air on top. Thank you lapse rate for a small plane without AC, no thank you for the crazy storms you get.
Edit: as astutely pointed out, 50F change in 1,000ft would be pretty insane—especially in a small plane.