United States Cave
Fisher Ridge Cave System
14 °C inside, all year.
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data), CC BY 4.0, with relief shading from Copernicus WorldDEM-30
The descent
The entrance, at 143 m.
The real relief above Fisher Ridge Cave System, 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.
143m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
14°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
69m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
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°9°Apr
- 25°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 the United States
Fisher Ridge Cave System is a cave in United States. The entrance is at 143 m. It has an underground river and several entrances and long galleries.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Morgantownnearest town · 4.3 km in a straight line
- Owensboro Daviess County Airport (OWB)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 72 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.
The water
The Welch Creek runs highest from February to May and in December.
The Welch Creek carries about 2.0 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from February to May and in December.
- 2.4 m³/sJan
- 3.2 m³/sFeb
- 3.8 m³/sMar
- 4.0 m³/sApr
- 3.3 m³/sMay
- 1.8 m³/sJun
- 1.4 m³/sJul
- 0.8 m³/sAug
- 0.7 m³/sSep
- 1.5 m³/sOct
- 2.1 m³/sNov
- 2.9 m³/sDec
From about 0.66 m³/s in the lowest month to 4.0 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 152 km².
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.
- 1hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmMotel 6
- 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
- car parks within 2 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 km
- campsites within 8 km
- restaurants and cafés 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
- Morgantown4.3 km in a straight line
- Oak Grove15 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Fisher Ridge Cave System.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Peakyas1 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 | 25 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 28 | 21 | 14 | 8 |
| Afternoon | 6 | 8 | 14 | 20 | 25 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 28 | 21 | 14 | 8 |
| Night | -3 | -2 | 3 | 9 | 14 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 16 | 9 | 2 | -1 |
| Rain (mm) | 92 | 115 | 112 | 135 | 137 | 111 | 127 | 101 | 93 | 109 | 102 | 121 |
| Rainy days | 11 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 11 |
| 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 | 92 | 3.6 |
| Feb | 8 | 8 | -2 | 115 | 4.0 |
| Mar | 14 | 14 | 3 | 112 | 5.1 |
| Apr | 20 | 20 | 9 | 135 | 6.9 |
| May | 25 | 25 | 14 | 137 | 7.3 |
| Jun | 29 | 29 | 19 | 111 | 8.8 |
| Jul | 31 | 31 | 21 | 127 | 8.4 |
| Aug | 31 | 31 | 20 | 101 | 8.0 |
| Sep | 28 | 28 | 16 | 93 | 7.2 |
| Oct | 21 | 21 | 9 | 109 | 6.0 |
| Nov | 14 | 14 | 2 | 102 | 4.9 |
| Dec | 8 | 8 | -1 | 121 | 3.3 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (143 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 | 142% | 141% | 180% | 82% | 75% | 143% | 117% | 132% | 102% | 134% | 48% | 70% |
| 2021 | 119% | 135% | 138% | 57% | 79% | 103% | 100% | 145% | 92% | 91% | 52% | 98% |
| 2022 | 146% | 157% | 98% | 101% | 60% | 57% | 180% | 109% | 62% | 36% | 61% | 90% |
| 2023 | 164% | 78% | 146% | 55% | 87% | 92% | 99% | 129% | 74% | 57% | 44% | 48% |
| 2024 | 176% | 71% | 51% | 90% | 202% | 85% | 117% | 38% | 179% | 12% | 140% | 123% |
| 2025 | 127% | 185% | 125% | 224% | 126% | 150% | 72% | 22% | 97% | 124% | 57% | 41% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Fisher Ridge Cave System
United States
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 143 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Mammoth Cave
United States · 49 km
- —Depth
- 644 kmGalleries
- 235 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Horse Cave
United States · 66 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 193 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Lost River Cave
United States · 36 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 172 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q4485212) · 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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