United States Show cave
Cave of the Winds
9 °C inside, all year.
Chris Lott from Fairbanks, USA · CC BY 2.0
The descent
The entrance, at 2,146 m.
The real relief above Cave of the Winds, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
2,146m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
9°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
221m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
9 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 9 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 30 °C at the entrance, 21 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from June to August. The wettest months are in May and from July to August: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 4°-8°Jan
- 5°-8°Feb
- 10°-4°Mar
- 15°-1°Apr
- 20°4°May
- 28°10°Jun
- 30°14°Jul
- 28°13°Aug
- 24°8°Sep
- 16°1°Oct
- 10°-4°Nov
- 4°-8°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Cave in United States of America
Cave of the Winds is a show cave in United States. The entrance is at 2,146 m. It has an underground river and stalactites and stalagmites. It is open to visitors.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsUsually with a guided tour; check times and tickets on the official site.Official site↗
- Manitou Springsnearest town · 1.6 km in a straight line
- Parking 160 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 1.9 km from the entrance
- City of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport (COS)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 21 km in a straight lineCar hire at COS airport (Colorado Springs)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The water
The the river runs highest from April to May and from July to August.
The the river carries about 0.15 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from April to May and from July to August, fed by melting snow. It is lowest from October to February.
- 0.1 m³/sJan
- 0.1 m³/sFeb
- 0.3 m³/sMar
- 0.4 m³/sApr
- 0.5 m³/sMay
- 0.4 m³/sJun
- 0.4 m³/sJul
- 0.4 m³/sAug
- 0.3 m³/sSep
- 0.1 m³/sOct
- 0.1 m³/sNov
- 0.1 m³/sDec
From about 0.05 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.47 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 188 km².
The Fountain Creek from source to mouth on Riveryas — coming soon
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 10springs within 2 kmIron Spring, Twin Spring, Shoshone Spring and 7 more
- 2viewpoints within 3 km
- 7marked hiking routes within 3 kmCabin Canyon Trail, Siamese Twins Trail, Barr Trail and 4 more
- 1named waterfalls within 4 kmRainbow Falls
- 32car parks within 2 km
- 3information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 11bus stops within 2 km
- 10campsites within 8 kmPikes Peak RV Park, Foot of the Rockies RV Resort, Lone Duck Family Campground and 7 more
- 44hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmRed Crags Bed and Breakfast, Bijou Condos, The fountain creek inn and 41 more
- 29restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- other cave entrances within 3 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Manitou Springs1.6 km in a straight line
- Colorado Springs9.8 km in a straight line
- Cascade-Chipita Park10 km in a straight line
- Air Force Academy14 km in a straight line
- Stratmoor17 km in a straight line
- Woodland Park18 km in a straight line
- Fort Carson19 km in a straight line
- Cimarron Hills19 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Cave of the Winds.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Riveryas1 rivers at the entrance
Cascadyas1 waterfalls within 5 km
Peakyas19 mountains within 10 km
Canyonyas1 canyons within 10 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 4 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 28 | 30 | 28 | 24 | 16 | 10 | 4 |
| Afternoon | 4 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 28 | 30 | 28 | 24 | 16 | 10 | 4 |
| Night | -8 | -8 | -4 | -1 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 13 | 8 | 1 | -4 | -8 |
| Rain (mm) | 14 | 17 | 27 | 42 | 50 | 37 | 70 | 59 | 35 | 24 | 14 | 14 |
| Rainy days | 4 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 16 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Sun hours/day | 6.6 | 7.5 | 8.3 | 8.9 | 9.5 | 11.0 | 10.8 | 10.1 | 9.6 | 8.2 | 7.1 | 6.3 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 17 | 16 | 12 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 17 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 4 | 4 | -8 | 14 | 6.6 |
| Feb | 5 | 5 | -8 | 17 | 7.5 |
| Mar | 10 | 10 | -4 | 27 | 8.3 |
| Apr | 15 | 15 | -1 | 42 | 8.9 |
| May | 20 | 20 | 4 | 50 | 9.5 |
| Jun | 28 | 28 | 10 | 37 | 11.0 |
| Jul | 30 | 30 | 14 | 70 | 10.8 |
| Aug | 28 | 28 | 13 | 59 | 10.1 |
| Sep | 24 | 24 | 8 | 35 | 9.6 |
| Oct | 16 | 16 | 1 | 24 | 8.2 |
| Nov | 10 | 10 | -4 | 14 | 7.1 |
| Dec | 4 | 4 | -8 | 14 | 6.3 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (2,146 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Inside and around.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 39% | 183% | 122% | 52% | 70% | 109% | 70% | 53% | 56% | 46% | 104% | 115% |
| 2021 | 85% | 129% | 202% | 82% | 192% | 111% | 124% | 42% | 88% | 38% | 44% | 61% |
| 2022 | 132% | 126% | 132% | 23% | 116% | 73% | 147% | 124% | 57% | 53% | 69% | 138% |
| 2023 | 123% | 89% | 43% | 97% | 246% | 322% | 86% | 104% | 128% | 73% | 91% | 148% |
| 2024 | 116% | 211% | 194% | 101% | 83% | 107% | 65% | 107% | 61% | 61% | 371% | 59% |
| 2025 | 166% | 126% | 93% | 47% | 166% | 199% | 89% | 130% | 110% | 46% | 111% | 98% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Cave of the Winds
United States
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 2,146 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Glenwood Caverns
United States · 220 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 2,166 mEntrance altitude
- 7 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q5054965) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
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