What's your temperature cut off for doing field work?

California boy here, and a scrawny one at that.  I have a hard enough time staying warm when it's 45°F, I simply can't imagine trying to work in anything below freezing.  The few times I've worked in mid-30s temps my body literally went into shock after a couple of hours and I had to sit down to keep from passing out.  I wish I had a hardier constitution, but I've come to accept the fact that I'm a fair-weather surveyor.

In my younger days I worked in -20°F. Not sure now. I guess it depends on what kind of work. Driving around doing quick GNSS occupations (a big part of my work), I guess it wouldn't matter. But doing leveling or traversing, probably no lower than 15°. 

I did some work in Alaska last year, all done on foot after flying in to eight remote villages. It wasn't real cold, 40° to 50°, but steady rain and wind. Just as miserable as if it was very cold. 

I prefer cold over heat, I have run levels in Nevada at a few Air Force bases, it was miserable in the 100°+ heat. I can always put on more layers, can't run levels naked

@john-hamilton I can relate to that. Thirty years of living here has left my tolerance for heat and humidity really low. I think working the cold was easier when I was younger, but I have learned a thing or two, like never stop moving in the cold and to pace myself so I don't work up a sweat, which is a killer once you slow down. Having the right gear and layers is the key. That said I have done some searches for places to retire where the temperature stays 70F year round. Unfortunately the only place that pops up I could probably afford is Medellin, Columbia and I'm not really big on the idea of getting kidnapped for ransom for the simple reason nobody is going to pay a cold tortilla for this sorry pale gringo.

Well yesterday when I came to work my office was 58 degrees, so I immediately email facilities to fix it!

The coldest outside was I70 construction staking in Glenwood Canyon, in the shade all day, when the temperature fell to -38 and they finally shut down the project for the day.

@williwaw Hoping to make a quick trip to Costa Rica in the next few weeks to check it out, probably a long weekend.

Nowadays I work in the city, largely near roads. So when it gets cold enough to make the road icy I usually am able to find plenty of work to do in the office.  Fortunately that is only a few days each year around here. 

I'll take 20°F and dry over 40°F and damp any day. All bets are off though if its windy along with the cold.    

-15F on the low end and 105F on the high end. My normal body temp is 97.8F so I do better than most folks in the heat. I surveyed a small dam in northern NH during some cold snaps and wouldn't survey in the cold around water vapor again if it were cold. Like you mentioned, the DC screen freezes up, but it's possible to use a lanyard and keep it tucked in a jacket if the job can't wait. Maybe the better answer would be, "It depends what you're paying me".

I'll tap out around -10. And over 100. 

116 was the hotest.  -10 plus a significant windchill on snow was he coldest.  In both cases the closing date was waaaay too soon.

@holy-cow Wind, any wind, is the wildcard. I can do -20 all day long, no problem, but toss in a 3 mph breeze and I'm crying uncle.

January 8, 2026.  It was near record high of 71° today in Northeast Mississippi.

For summertime work, 95°+ is too hot for me.  I sweat on everything, and my equipment gets overheated.

For wintertime work, below freezing with a wind chill factor below 20° is getting too cold to stay out long. I don't have too many days I cannot work outdoors because of the weather.  Rain, freezing rain, and what little snow we get keeps me indoors. 

Depends on the wind in cold and shade in hot. I'd say 20F--call me a wuss. I'm not a hot weather type, but have done 100F+ if the option to work at night isn't there. Really, it does depend on the instruments as well. They don't always like the temp's.

I work on a solar farm project outside of Blyth, CA.  The temp was over 51 c (temp ended up higher than the photo).  You know it is hot when there is a heat advisory in August in Blyth.  The contractor actually showed some concern for me, but not enough to halt work.  I was laying out fence line over several sections.  Let the truck run all day with the A/C cranked and set a couple hundred feet of line before I would cool off in the truck and move forward.  My wife though I was crazy when I would call from the restaurant in the evening, basking is the cool outside breeze @ 40 c. 

This time your wife was right.

Posted by: @john-putnam

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The temp was over 51 c

I worked a job in Wickenburg, AZ in the summer of 1985. It got about that hot every day. We would start at 4am and knock off at noon, by which time it was well over 100°F. We took our cue from the locals.  

Posted by: @john-putnam

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The temp was over 51 c

My first survey job was in Saudi Arabia as a teen with an outfit called Gulf Surveys back in 1981. We would go out for a couple weeks at a time and live in tents while mapping lord knows what. Might as well have been Mars because that's what it looked like. It would get so hot during midday we would retreat to our tents around 11:00 and rest in the shade with soaking wet towels as blankets until around 3:00 and then go back out until it was too dark to see. Had a cobra go crawling under my cot one afternoon. I'm really glad I saw it before putting my feet down to get up. 

Temp is a lesser factor.  If it's just cold and there's no wind I'm OK doing like 10 degrees.  Start adding wind though and the misery flies through the roof, so really it comes down to the wind more than anything.  Upper end is probably 100.

I've never really been in a position to decide my schedule this way though since I've always worked for others, but I learned enough to know productivity falls off at points where it's just better to stay inside and do other things.

Below 95 and over 40. And in no kind of precipitation.  

Has not happened explicitly. Most of my work has been in New Jersey. I worked when the Delaware Bay froze over (I believe it was around 0° F  and wind chills well below that).   I once worked in a deep freeze facility that stored Ice Cream.. That lasted 15 minutes. So I imagine somewhere before the -20 range I would call it quits.

Now I work solo and remote. So if it is hot, I take breaks. If it gets into the 20s, I put on a coat instead of a sweatshirt. Biggest thing is... if my hands keep working and my neck is covered i'm pretty good. Since I travel now I get to wake up to single digits even though coming from above freezing lol. 

My stop points are high winds, heavy rain or lightning generally on the east coast of the US. If equipment is blowing over that does not help anyone. If I die from lightning that does not help anyone. 

As far as rain. If the equipment owners do not care I do not either. If I owned it? No.  I worked at firm that did not work in rain. We had OLD equipment that still functioned perfectly. Rain on the coast tends to be salty. And it eats equipment.