Cool summer getaways from Philadelphia, ranked before you reserve
Every one of our cool summer getaways from Philadelphia carries a number: how many degrees Fahrenheit lower the average July afternoon high is at that lodging than at our office in Plymouth Meeting. This page explains where the number comes from and how far you can lean on it.
The two points being compared
One point is our office at 450 Plymouth Rd. The other is the lodging itself, by its own coordinates, not the center of the nearest town. A lodging up on a ridge and one down by a river can sit only a few miles apart and still differ by several degrees, so the point matters.
Where the temperatures come from
The daily highs and lows come from the ERA5-Land reanalysis produced by ECMWF, the European weather forecasting agency, read through the Open-Meteo historical weather service for each point, for every day from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2025. A reanalysis blends weather station readings, satellite data and a physical model into a continuous grid, then adjusts it for the height of the ground.
From 775 July days to one number
For each point we average the daily high of every July day in those 25 years. The difference between the office average and the lodging average is the figure printed on each stay, rounded to a tenth of a degree. The same is done for the daily low, which gives the cooler nights column, and for every other month, which gives the twelve bars on each stay page.
| Stay | Average July high | Cooler afternoons | Cooler nights | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Thorpe, PA | 83.5°F | 2.4°F cooler | 2.7°F cooler | Under 5°F cooler |
| Hawley, PA | 81.0°F | 4.9°F cooler | 4.7°F cooler | Under 5°F cooler |
| Wellsboro, PA | 80.0°F | 5.8°F cooler | 6.5°F cooler | 5 to 8°F cooler |
| Mount Pocono, PA | 78.7°F | 7.2°F cooler | 7.2°F cooler | 5 to 8°F cooler |
| Cooperstown, NY | 78.0°F | 7.9°F cooler | 7.7°F cooler | 5 to 8°F cooler |
| Windham, NY | 77.9°F | 7.9°F cooler | 8.0°F cooler | 5 to 8°F cooler |
| Eagles Mere, PA | 77.9°F | 7.9°F cooler | 8.5°F cooler | 5 to 8°F cooler |
| Ellicottville, NY | 77.0°F | 8.9°F cooler | 8.0°F cooler | 8°F cooler or more |
| Old Forge, NY | 74.3°F | 11.6°F cooler | 9.7°F cooler | 8°F cooler or more |
| Lake Placid, NY | 74.3°F | 11.6°F cooler | 10.7°F cooler | 8°F cooler or more |
Leaning on an average
It describes what July afternoons have averaged, not what any one day will bring. A heat wave can push a cool mountain town into the high 80s for a few days, and a wet week can keep Plymouth Meeting in the 70s. Treat the figure as a fair guide to how the summer usually feels, and check a forecast before you pack.
Why we use the average high
Most people judge summer comfort by the afternoon. Nights matter too, which is why each stay also shows how much cooler its July nights run; in valleys the nights can cool more than the afternoons do.
Reserving from the list
When a number on this page suits you, the stay it belongs to is one link away, and you can request a mountain stay quote for any of them in a minute.