  The Casimir-Polder (CP) potential and transition rates of a Rydberg atom
above a plane metal surface at finite temperature are discussed. As an example,
the CP potential and transition rates of a rubidium atom above a copper surface
at room temperature is computed. Close to the surface we show that the
quadrupole correction to the force is significant and increases with increasing
principal quantum number n. For both the CP potential and decay rates one finds
that the dominant contribution comes from the longest wavelength transition and
the potential is independent of temperature. We provide explicit scaling laws
for potential and decay rates as functions of atom-surface distance and
principal quantum number of the initial Rydberg state.
