United States Show cave

Raccoon Mountain Caverns

16 °C inside, all year.

The descent

The entrance, at 252 m.

The real relief above Raccoon Mountain 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.

252m

Entrance altitude

from the 30 m relief model

16°C

Inside, all year

the yearly average outside, at the entrance

307m

Rock above

the highest point within 1.5 km

Inside and outside

16 °C inside, all year.

Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 16 °C here, in January and in August. In August the afternoon reaches 32 °C at the entrance, 17 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from June to September.

outside, at the entrance (252 m)inside

9°-1°Jan
11°1°Feb
16°5°Mar
22°10°Apr
26°15°May
30°19°Jun
32°21°Jul
32°20°Aug
29°17°Sep
23°10°Oct
16°4°Nov
11°1°Dec

Inside: 16 °C all yearEscape the heat: Jun–Sep

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 Chattanooga, Tennessee

Raccoon Mountain Caverns is a show cave in United States. The entrance is at 252 m. It has 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.
Lookout Mountainnearest town · 6.1 km in a straight line
Parking 980 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
Laurel Point Picnic Areanearest viewpoint · 2.8 km from the entrance
Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (Lovell Field) (CHA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 19 km in a straight lineCar hire at CHA airport (Chattanooga)Discover Cars · sponsored link

Plan the visit

Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at CHA airport (Chattanooga)Discover CarsSee prices

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.

The ground above Raccoon Mountain Caverns (Sentinel-2)

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.

1other cave entrances within 3 kmRaccoon Mountain Caverns
1springs within 2 kmObar Spring
1viewpoints within 3 kmLaurel Point Picnic Area
25car parks within 2 km
1information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
3campsites within 8 kmMcNabb Gulf Campsite, Raccoon Mountain Campground, Davis Pond Camping area
25hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmRed Roof Inn Chattanooga - Lookout Mountain, Clarion Inn, Cottages and 22 more
3restaurants and cafés within 3 km

sinkholes within 3 km
caving clubs and spots within 15 km
marked hiking routes within 3 km
climbing crags within 3 km
named waterfalls within 4 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

Lookout Mountain6.1 km in a straight line
Lookout Mountain6.7 km in a straight line
Chattanooga9.3 km in a straight line
Chattanooga Valley11 km in a straight line
Rossville12 km in a straight line
Signal Mountain13 km in a straight line
Fairview14 km in a straight line
East Ridge14 km in a straight line

In our other atlases

What else is around Raccoon Mountain 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.

Peakyas9 mountains within 10 km

Hicks Mountain · 4.3 kmLookout Mountain · 6.1 kmWindy Mountain · 7.6 kmTatum Mountain · 8.1 kmCameron Hill · 8.9 kmElder Mountain · 9.4 kmLawson Mountain · 9.6 kmAetna Mountain · 9.8 km

Figures 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	9	11	16	22	26	30	32	32	29	23	16	11
Afternoon	9	11	16	22	26	30	32	32	29	23	16	11
Night	-1	1	5	10	15	19	21	20	17	10	4	1
Rain (mm)	112	128	119	120	116	104	123	96	102	91	108	142
Rainy days	11	11	11	11	13	16	18	14	10	8	9	11
Sun hours/day	4.2	4.2	5.5	7.2	7.7	8.5	7.9	7.7	7.1	6.4	5.5	3.8
Snow on the ground (cm)	5	6	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	9	9	-1	112	4.2
Feb	11	11	1	128	4.2
Mar	16	16	5	119	5.5
Apr	22	22	10	120	7.2
May	26	26	15	116	7.7
Jun	30	30	19	104	8.5
Jul	32	32	21	123	7.9
Aug	32	32	20	96	7.7
Sep	29	29	17	102	7.1
Oct	23	23	10	91	6.4
Nov	16	16	4	108	5.5
Dec	11	11	1	142	3.8

Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (252 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.

Photographs

Inside and around.

The Raccoon Mountain Caverns entrance in Chattanooga, Tennessee — Harrison Keely · CC BY 4.0

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	158%	232%	186%	164%	120%	106%	69%	141%	111%	161%	53%	79%
2021	72%	105%	251%	45%	75%	144%	121%	232%	115%	134%	32%	88%
2022	120%	171%	121%	80%	79%	76%	109%	124%	91%	49%	115%	114%
2023	149%	91%	119%	96%	70%	117%	104%	151%	23%	13%	44%	105%
2024	148%	76%	122%	79%	161%	46%	113%	47%	147%	7%	84%	74%
2025	69%	98%	120%	116%	196%	122%	67%	115%	86%	96%	55%	34%

130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month

Caves nearby.

Raccoon Mountain Caverns

United States

—Depth
—Galleries
252 mEntrance altitude
16 °CInside, all year

Cumberland Caverns

United States · 76 km

—Depth
—Galleries
319 mEntrance altitude
15 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Craighead Caverns

United States · 106 km

—Depth
—Galleries
400 mEntrance altitude
15 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Tuckaleechee Caverns

United States · 164 km

—Depth
—Galleries
372 mEntrance altitude
15 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name, type, published depth and length, visitors	Wikidata (Q7278860) · 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?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beaches

Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit

lakes

Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit

mountains

Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit

waterfalls

Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit

islands

Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit

rivers

Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit

canyons

Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit

caves

Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.You are here

dark skies Darkskyas

Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit

viewpoints Viewyas

Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit

birdwatching Birdyas

Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit

forests

Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	9	9	-1	112	4.2
Feb	11	11	1	128	4.2
Mar	16	16	5	119	5.5
Apr	22	22	10	120	7.2
May	26	26	15	116	7.7
Jun	30	30	19	104	8.5
Jul	32	32	21	123	7.9
Aug	32	32	20	96	7.7
Sep	29	29	17	102	7.1
Oct	23	23	10	91	6.4
Nov	16	16	4	108	5.5
Dec	11	11	1	142	3.8

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	9	9	-1	112	4.2
Feb	11	11	1	128	4.2
Mar	16	16	5	119	5.5
Apr	22	22	10	120	7.2
May	26	26	15	116	7.7
Jun	30	30	19	104	8.5
Jul	32	32	21	123	7.9
Aug	32	32	20	96	7.7
Sep	29	29	17	102	7.1
Oct	23	23	10	91	6.4
Nov	16	16	4	108	5.5
Dec	11	11	1	142	3.8

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	9	9	-1	112	4.2
Feb	11	11	1	128	4.2
Mar	16	16	5	119	5.5
Apr	22	22	10	120	7.2
May	26	26	15	116	7.7
Jun	30	30	19	104	8.5
Jul	32	32	21	123	7.9
Aug	32	32	20	96	7.7
Sep	29	29	17	102	7.1
Oct	23	23	10	91	6.4
Nov	16	16	4	108	5.5
Dec	11	11	1	142	3.8