United States Show cave
Skyline Caverns
13 °C inside, all year.
James St. John · CC BY 2.0
The descent
The entrance, at 187 m.
The real relief above Skyline Caverns, 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.
187m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
13°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
261m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
13 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 13 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 32 °C at the entrance, 19 °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: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 4°-5°Jan
- 6°-4°Feb
- 12°0°Mar
- 18°6°Apr
- 24°12°May
- 29°17°Jun
- 32°19°Jul
- 31°18°Aug
- 27°14°Sep
- 20°8°Oct
- 12°1°Nov
- 6°-3°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 Warren County, Virginia, United States
Skyline Caverns is a show cave in United States. The entrance is at 187 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↗
- Front Royalnearest town · 2.8 km in a straight line
- Parking 40 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Shenandoah Valley Overlooknearest viewpoint · 1.5 km from the entrance
- Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 66 km in a straight lineCar hire at IAD airport (Dulles)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 South Fork Shenandoah River runs highest from March to June and in October.
The South Fork Shenandoah River carries about 48 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from March to June and in October.
- 16 m³/sJan
- 33 m³/sFeb
- 93 m³/sMar
- 119 m³/sApr
- 126 m³/sMay
- 88 m³/sJun
- 53 m³/sJul
- 20 m³/sAug
- 49 m³/sSep
- 61 m³/sOct
- 50 m³/sNov
- 29 m³/sDec
From about 16 m³/s in the lowest month to 126 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 4,234 km².
Follow the Rappahannock River from source to mouth on Riveryas
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.
- 2other cave entrances within 3 kmSkyline Caverns
- 1viewpoints within 3 kmShenandoah Valley Overlook
- 2marked hiking routes within 3 kmDickey Ridge Trail, Fox Hollow Trail
- 26car parks within 2 km
- 3information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 4bus stops within 2 km
- 6campsites within 8 kmSkyline Ranch Resort, Mountainview RV Campground, Tom Floyd Wayside and 3 more
- 15hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmScottish Inn, Super 8 Front Royal, Budget Inn and 12 more
- 28restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 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
- Front Royal2.8 km in a straight line
- Apple Mountain Lake10 km in a straight line
- Shenandoah Farms15 km in a straight line
- Middletown15 km in a straight line
- Strasburg16 km in a straight line
- Stephens City20 km in a straight line
- Washington21 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Skyline Caverns.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Peakyas17 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 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 29 | 32 | 31 | 27 | 20 | 12 | 6 |
| Afternoon | 4 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 29 | 32 | 31 | 27 | 20 | 12 | 6 |
| Night | -5 | -4 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 14 | 8 | 1 | -3 |
| Rain (mm) | 62 | 64 | 77 | 91 | 119 | 111 | 107 | 91 | 104 | 88 | 73 | 80 |
| Rainy days | 8 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.6 | 4.6 | 5.3 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 7.9 | 7.9 | 7.2 | 6.3 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 3.2 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 13 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 4 | 4 | -5 | 62 | 3.6 |
| Feb | 6 | 6 | -4 | 64 | 4.6 |
| Mar | 12 | 12 | 0 | 77 | 5.3 |
| Apr | 18 | 18 | 6 | 91 | 6.3 |
| May | 24 | 24 | 12 | 119 | 6.6 |
| Jun | 29 | 29 | 17 | 111 | 7.9 |
| Jul | 32 | 32 | 19 | 107 | 7.9 |
| Aug | 31 | 31 | 18 | 91 | 7.2 |
| Sep | 27 | 27 | 14 | 104 | 6.3 |
| Oct | 20 | 20 | 8 | 88 | 5.1 |
| Nov | 12 | 12 | 1 | 73 | 4.5 |
| Dec | 6 | 6 | -3 | 80 | 3.2 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (187 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 | 125% | 104% | 72% | 145% | 45% | 80% | 70% | 184% | 67% | 152% | 157% | 141% |
| 2021 | 70% | 142% | 76% | 61% | 56% | 79% | 61% | 138% | 139% | 89% | 30% | 18% |
| 2022 | 102% | 69% | 63% | 66% | 113% | 62% | 89% | 81% | 77% | 69% | 102% | 120% |
| 2023 | 57% | 82% | 58% | 89% | 27% | 64% | 84% | 57% | 118% | 34% | 82% | 163% |
| 2024 | 240% | 81% | 133% | 73% | 81% | 42% | 62% | 179% | 103% | 11% | 54% | 93% |
| 2025 | 69% | 101% | 53% | 60% | 181% | 115% | 125% | 30% | 56% | 64% | 37% | 48% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Skyline Caverns
United States
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 187 mEntrance altitude
- 13 °CInside, all year
Luray Caverns
United States · 35 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 297 mEntrance altitude
- 13 °CInside, all year
Shenandoah Caverns
United States · 44 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 314 mEntrance altitude
- 12 °CInside, all year
Endless Caverns
United States · 52 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 350 mEntrance altitude
- 12 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q7537893) · 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?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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