# How long can the outside temperature be constant?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-the-outside-temperature-be-constant/415109>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 10, 2007, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-the-outside-temperature-be-constant/415109 "2007-08-10T05:17:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-the-outside-temperature-be-constant/415109/1 "2007-08-10T05:17:21Z")

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Where on Earth is the most constant outside temperature? And what would be the longest time of the same outside temperature on the Fahrenheit scale? (Or, if the answer is significantly different, answer for the Celsius / Kelvin scale too)

to clarify, “same” means the temperature does not vary by more than 1 degree.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-the-outside-temperature-be-constant/415109/2 "2007-08-10T08:47:30Z")

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Does your definition of ‘outside’ extend below the surface of the ocean? I’m guessing not.

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**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-the-outside-temperature-be-constant/415109/3 "2007-08-10T15:35:28Z")

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[QUOTE=Mangetout]  
Does your definition of ‘outside’ extend below the surface of the ocean? I’m guessing not.  
[/QUOTE]  
Oooh, interesting point. I guess I should have specified surface air temperature. (otherwise, I suppose the water temperature of a pond would be pretty constant)

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-the-outside-temperature-be-constant/415109/4 "2007-08-10T15:41:54Z")

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Yes. And the deeper you go, the more stable is the temperature, typically. Somewhere as deep as the Mariana Trench probably remains at a very stable temperature for much longer than twenty minutes.

My WAG regarding most stable air temperature is that it’s going to be near one of the poles - where day and night work differently.

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**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-the-outside-temperature-be-constant/415109/5 "2007-08-11T16:04:30Z")

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Is the air temperature at super-high altitudes or even the edge of space very constant?

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-the-outside-temperature-be-constant/415109/6 "2007-08-11T16:32:01Z")

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Are you going to exclude caves also? I suppose that patently violates “outside”, but it’s not a man-made “inside”. Anyway, many cave systems exhibit a sort of “thermal flywheel” effect where the temperature of passages distant from the entrance varies little and is a good approximation of the mean temperature of the area.

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**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-the-outside-temperature-be-constant/415109/7 "2007-08-11T17:35:13Z")

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[QUOTE=Mangetout]  
Somewhere as deep as the Mariana Trench probably remains at a very stable temperature for much longer than twenty minutes.  
[/QUOTE]

Although we’d never know, because we’ve never been there for longer than that. Just once. …What year was it, I wonder?  
😃