Eagles Nest 12/6

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Originally Posted by apitkin

Which is why, in my opinion, Eagle's Nest more often has better visibility in the summer than in the winter - tannic surface water is warmer than the cave water so doesn't seep down into the cave as much. In the winter the dirty surface water is colder and denser than the cave water so it sinks into the cave, so the visibility is frequently poor in the winter.

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That is exactly correct. You can predict the approximate time of turning based on when daily temperatures begin dropping substantially below cave temperature. Incidentally, we see the same density driven exchange in air-filled caves in Florida. Many become density stratified in summer and CO2 concentrations build to dangerous levels due to the lack of flushing with fresh outside air.