The Center 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.
Chance of showers
Mostly sunny
Partly cloudy
Chance of showers
Mostly sunny
Partly cloudy
Chance of showers
−3° on Nov. 16, 1955, the coldest reading for this week of the year since 1893. Next is −3° in 2012.
Center’s center stands about 7,650 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 7,610 ft to 7,680 ft, a difference of 70 ft: gently rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Eagle Rock, about 9,450 ft, 15 miles west-northwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Unclassified surficial deposits and underlying Alamosa Fm in San Luis Valley (unconsolidated), from the Tertiary to Quaternary, less than 66 million years old.
The section below crosses 4 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 36×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Unconsolidated. Age: Tertiary to Quaternary, less than 66 million years old. About 22 mi of the line.
Gravel, unconsolidated. Age: Pleistocene, 0.2 to 1.6 million years old. About 1 mi of the line.
Unconsolidated. Age: Quaternary, less than 2.6 million years old. About 0.7 mi of the line.
Volcanic. Age: Oligocene, 23 to 34 million years old. About 0.6 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale.
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.
Center has a cold semi-arid climate. Summer afternoons average 81° in July; winter nights fall to about 7° in January. A normal year brings about 39 inches of snow; with the rain, that comes to about 10 inches of water.
On November 14 Center normally reaches 49° and falls to 18°. The record high is 65°, in 1999; the record low 0°, in 1940. The most rain on this date, 0.80 in, fell in 1993.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1893 at Del Norte 3 ENE, 12 miles west-southwest, 200 ft higher. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
