The Batavia plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
3.15 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1892. The next wettest, 3.10 inches, fell in 1978.
Batavia’s center stands about 1,510 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 1,190 ft to 1,880 ft, a difference of 690 ft: hilly country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Pickert Point, about 2,320 ft, 14 miles south-southwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Pitkin Limestone, Fayetteville Shale (including the Wedington Sandstone member), and Batesville Sandstone (including the Hindsville Limestone Member) (sandstone, shale, limestone), from the Carboniferous, 324 to 359 million years old.
The section below crosses 7 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 14×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Limestone. Age: Carboniferous, 324 to 359 million years old. About 7 mi of the line.
Sandstone, shale, limestone. Age: Carboniferous, 324 to 359 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Shale, sandstone. Age: Carboniferous, 299 to 324 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Sandstone. Age: Carboniferous, 299 to 324 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Dolostone. Age: Early Ordovician, 471 to 487 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Dolostone. Age: Early Ordovician, 471 to 487 million years old. About 1 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 1 smaller unit along the line are not listed.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in Batavia reaches the Gulf of America by way of Rock Springs Branch, Denning Creek, Bear Creek, the White River and the Mississippi: about 1,120 river miles.
620 miles of the trip are on the Mississippi.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Batavia; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Batavia has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 89° in July; winter nights fall to about 27° in January. About 44 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 Batavia normally reaches 60° and falls to 38°. The record high is 80°, in 1955; the record low 5°, in 1908. The most rain on this date, 1.53 in, fell in 1993.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1892 from the Harrison Area threaded record (Harrison Boone County Airport, 4 miles east-northeast, 140 ft lower). NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.