Aboveground concrete cylindrical storage tanks must be designed for temperature differences between inside and outside faces of the wall. The stresses in the cylinder wall are a linear function of the temperature difference. A number of transient heat transfer finite element analyses were carried out to determine reasonable design values for this temperature difference. Extreme summer and winter conditions for southern Ontario were assumed in the analyses. It was found that for water stand-pipes supplied by groundwater the temperature difference can be as high as 25 °C, based on a summer water temperature of 10 °C. The maximum winter temperature difference was also 25 °C, based on a winter water temperature of 5 °C. For farm tower silos, a design temperature difference of 15 °C is probably more appropriate. Storage structures for other liquids can be judged if the temperature of the contained liquid is known.Key words: standpipes, structural design, temperature load, water reservoir, finite element prediction.