The Mackay 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.
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68° on Nov. 13, 1962, the hottest reading for this week of the year since 1908. Next is 66° in 1934.
Mackay’s center stands about 5,900 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 5,830 ft to 7,460 ft, a difference of 1,630 ft: steep hill country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Leatherman Peak, about 12,120 ft, 13 miles north-northwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Alluvial deposits (gravel, sand, silt), from the Quaternary, less than 2.6 million years old.
The section below crosses 5 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 3×. 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. Age: Quaternary, less than 2.6 million years old. About 7 mi of the line.
Dacite, andesite, rhyolite. Age: Eocene, 34 to 56 million years old. About 7 mi of the line.
Gravel, sand, silt. Age: Quaternary, less than 2.6 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Dolostone, limestone, sandstone. Age: Ordovician to Devonian, 359 to 487 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Age: Carboniferous, 324 to 359 million years old. About 3 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.
Mackay has a cold semi-arid climate. Summer afternoons average 83° in July; winter nights fall to about 8° in January. About 10 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 Mackay normally reaches 42° and falls to 20°. The record high is 62°, in 1995; the record low −3°, in 1916. The most rain on this date, 0.30 in, fell in 1952.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1908 at Mackay Lost River Rs, here. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
