In July, typical afternoon highs at Crater Lake run around 72°F (mild). Mid-afternoon sun stands about 59° high, and the sun is up from 5:43 AM to 8:45 PM. Shade depends on terrain and tree cover; open viewpoints are fully exposed.
See live sun & real shadows here →| January | 39°F |
| February | 33°F |
| March | 38°F |
| April | 46°F |
| May | 53°F |
| June | 63°F |
| July | 72°F |
| August | 72°F |
| September | 67°F |
| October | 50°F |
| November | 45°F |
| December | 41°F |
Shade depends on terrain and tree cover; open viewpoints are fully exposed. See real building shadows over satellite imagery for any time of day: https://isthereshade.com/?anywhere&at=42.95,-122.1
Around 8:45 PM local time in mid-July (it shifts through the year). Sunrise is about 5:43 AM.
Crater Lake · Crater Lake, OR. Data: exact sun position; climate normals from historical weather; live forecast on the interactive view.
Crater Lake fools people. The air is cool even in high summer, with afternoon highs only around 72°F, so the heat never feels like a threat. The sun does the damage here instead. At this elevation in the Oregon Cascades the light is intense, the rim overlooks are wide open, and hours of that thin, bright sun will burn you long before you feel hot.
The temperature at Crater Lake stays comfortable through the summer, which is a relief and a trap at once. Because the air is mild, you underdress for sun and stay out longer than your skin can handle. At altitude there is less atmosphere to filter ultraviolet light, and the pale rim rock and the lake itself throw glare back up at you. The 72°F reading is genuinely pleasant, so this article skips the heat-danger talk. The real advice is sun protection and shade timing.
By mid-afternoon in July the sun sits about 59 degrees above the horizon and comes from the southwest. On the rim, where most visitors stand, that means the overlooks pointed out over the water get full sun with little to break it. The days are long, with sunrise near 5:43 AM and sunset around 8:45 PM, so the exposed hours stretch wide.
Be realistic about cover. The overlooks and the rim road pullouts are open by design, built to give you the view, and open ground gives no shade. Where relief exists it comes from the forest. The pines and firs that grow along parts of the rim and down the trails hold real shade, so the walk into the trees is cooler than the exposed viewpoint you left.
To see which stretches of the rim and which viewpoints fall into shadow as the afternoon wears on, the satellite shadow view shows it from above.
Mornings are the best light and the easiest sun. Come to the rim early, when the low sun and long shadows keep the overlooks comfortable and the lake color is at its deepest. Save the shaded forest trails for the high-sun hours in the middle of the day, and return to the open viewpoints in the late afternoon when the sun has swung west and dropped.
Pack for sun regardless of the mild forecast: a hat with a brim, sunglasses that cut glare off the water, and sunscreen you reapply, because the cool air will let you forget. Note too that Crater Lake is a short season. Snow lingers late and returns early, and even the warmest months, July and August, only reach the low 70s. Time your day around the sun rather than the heat, and use the trees when the overlooks get bright.