Experiments were conducted to determine the variation of interface temperatures during the storage and draining of liquid nitrogen from large containers in the presence of the non-condensable gas. A chilled layer was seen to be formed at the interface in the presence of the non-condensable gas and this layer advanced into the warm liquid at speeds higher than the characteristic speeds associated with thermal diffusion. A theoretical model was developed for the interface temperatures considering the evaporation from the stratified layer in the stored column of liquid. The predictions of the model were shown to compare well with the experimental measurements. A correlation was obtained for the interface temperatures when the proportion of the non-condensable gas was varied. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.