{"metadata":{"title":"PlainClimate — Average Annual Temperature by Elevation Band","source":"NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals","source_url":"https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/land-based-station/us-climate-normals","vintage":"2026-08-04","license":"CC0 1.0","license_url":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/","citation":"PlainClimate, \"Average Annual Temperature by Elevation Band\". https://plainclimate.com/research/elevation-temp-correlation-in-us-cities","derivation":"Each city's primary-station elevation joined to its annual mean temperature, grouped into 6 elevation bands (n=6861 cities with both values).","fitted_lapse_rate_c_per_km":3.2,"fitted_lapse_rate_note":"Least squares over the same 6861 cities. A national cross-section across differing latitudes and climates, NOT a single mountain profile, so it sits below the ~6.5 C/km atmospheric rate.","row_count":6},"data":[{"elevation_band":"Below sea level","avg_annual_temp_f":74.5,"city_count":9},{"elevation_band":"0-300m","avg_annual_temp_f":56.4,"city_count":3450},{"elevation_band":"300-800m","avg_annual_temp_f":50.8,"city_count":1753},{"elevation_band":"800-1500m","avg_annual_temp_f":51.4,"city_count":950},{"elevation_band":"1500-2500m","avg_annual_temp_f":46.8,"city_count":642},{"elevation_band":"2500m+","avg_annual_temp_f":38.6,"city_count":57}]}