United States Show cave
Lost River Cave
14 °C inside, all year.
Nyttend · Public domain
The descent
The entrance, at 172 m.
The real relief above Lost River Cave, 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.
172m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
14°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
Inside and outside
14 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 14 °C here, in January and in August. In August the afternoon reaches 31 °C at the entrance, 17 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from June to September.
- 6°-3°Jan
- 8°-2°Feb
- 14°3°Mar
- 20°8°Apr
- 24°14°May
- 29°19°Jun
- 31°21°Jul
- 31°20°Aug
- 28°16°Sep
- 21°9°Oct
- 14°2°Nov
- 8°-1°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 system in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States
Lost River Cave is a show cave in United States. The entrance is at 172 m. It has an underground river, stalactites and stalagmites and several entrances and long galleries. It is open to visitors.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsUsually with a guided tour; check times and tickets on the official site.
- Bowling Greennearest town · 4.9 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,650 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Nashville International Airport (BNA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 94 km in a straight lineCar hire at BNA airport (Nashville)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.
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.
- 4car parks within 2 km
- 3campsites within 8 kmBowling Green KOA Holiday
- 44hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmJameson Inn, Comfort Inn, Days Inn Bowling Green and 41 more
- 4restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- other cave entrances within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- viewpoints within 3 km
- marked hiking routes within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 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
- Bowling Green4.9 km in a straight line
- Plano9.4 km in a straight line
- Auburn23 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Lost River Cave.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Peakyas2 mountains 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 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 20 | 24 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 28 | 21 | 14 | 8 |
| Afternoon | 6 | 8 | 14 | 20 | 24 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 28 | 21 | 14 | 8 |
| Night | -3 | -2 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 16 | 9 | 2 | -1 |
| Rain (mm) | 100 | 120 | 116 | 139 | 142 | 119 | 140 | 108 | 98 | 108 | 105 | 128 |
| Rainy days | 11 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 12 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.6 | 4.0 | 5.1 | 6.9 | 7.3 | 8.8 | 8.4 | 8.0 | 7.2 | 6.0 | 4.9 | 3.3 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 10 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 6 | 6 | -3 | 100 | 3.6 |
| Feb | 8 | 8 | -2 | 120 | 4.0 |
| Mar | 14 | 14 | 3 | 116 | 5.1 |
| Apr | 20 | 20 | 8 | 139 | 6.9 |
| May | 24 | 24 | 14 | 142 | 7.3 |
| Jun | 29 | 29 | 19 | 119 | 8.8 |
| Jul | 31 | 31 | 21 | 140 | 8.4 |
| Aug | 31 | 31 | 20 | 108 | 8.0 |
| Sep | 28 | 28 | 16 | 98 | 7.2 |
| Oct | 21 | 21 | 9 | 108 | 6.0 |
| Nov | 14 | 14 | 2 | 105 | 4.9 |
| Dec | 8 | 8 | -1 | 128 | 3.3 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (172 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
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 | 143% | 150% | 198% | 84% | 75% | 130% | 100% | 128% | 99% | 136% | 49% | 74% |
| 2021 | 114% | 138% | 140% | 50% | 87% | 97% | 88% | 140% | 101% | 102% | 56% | 94% |
| 2022 | 139% | 159% | 77% | 91% | 63% | 59% | 168% | 88% | 58% | 38% | 73% | 86% |
| 2023 | 149% | 81% | 125% | 55% | 72% | 98% | 88% | 95% | 52% | 48% | 42% | 47% |
| 2024 | 157% | 86% | 60% | 89% | 191% | 71% | 122% | 36% | 161% | 11% | 107% | 116% |
| 2025 | 113% | 189% | 128% | 201% | 132% | 131% | 60% | 29% | 96% | 113% | 62% | 49% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Lost River Cave
United States
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 172 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Mammoth Cave
United States · 42 km
- —Depth
- 644 kmGalleries
- 235 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Horse Cave
United States · 56 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 193 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Fisher Ridge Cave System
United States · 36 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 143 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q6684214) · 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 |
| 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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