The Fruitvale 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
Partly cloudy
Partly cloudy
Showers likely
Chance of showers; cooler
Showers likely
Showers likely; cooler
6° on Nov. 13, 1916, the coldest reading for this week of the year since 1893. Next is 8° in 1955.
Fruitvale’s center stands about 4,660 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 4,580 ft to 4,930 ft, a difference of 350 ft: rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Island Mesa, about 6,990 ft, 12 miles south-southwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Gravels and alluviums (gravel, unconsolidated), from the Pleistocene, less than 0.5 million years old.
The section below crosses 11 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 7×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Gravel, unconsolidated. Age: Pleistocene, less than 0.5 million years old. About 10 mi of the line.
Unconsolidated. Age: Quaternary, less than 2.6 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Shale, sandstone. Age: Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous, 66 to 145 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Sandstone, shale, conglomerate. Age: Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous, 66 to 145 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Sandstone, mudstone, claystone. Age: Late Jurassic, 145 to 164 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Biotite-gneiss, schist, migmatite. Age: Paleoproterozoic, 1.6 to 2.5 billion 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. 5 smaller units 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 Fruitvale reaches the Gulf of California by way of Lewis Wash and the Colorado: about 1,170 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Lake Mead, Lake Powell, Lake Mohave and Lake Havasu.
Seldom reaches the sea. Dams and canals now take nearly all of the Colorado before its old delta in Mexico.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Fruitvale; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Fruitvale has a cold semi-arid climate. Summer afternoons average 95° in July; winter nights fall to about 17° in January. A normal year brings about 18 inches of snow; with the rain, that comes to about 9 inches of water.
On November 14 Fruitvale normally reaches 53° and falls to 28°. The record high is 72°, in 1903; the record low 8°, in 1916. The most rain on this date, 0.53 in, fell in 1987.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1893 from the Grand Junction Area threaded record (Grand Junction Walker Field, 4 miles north-northwest, 160 ft higher). NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
