The Northborough 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.
3.64 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1892. The next wettest, 2.98 inches, fell in 1947.
Northborough’s center stands about 310 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 230 ft to 690 ft, a difference of 460 ft: hilly country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Asnebumskit Hill, about 1,400 ft, 13 miles west.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Nashoba Formation (schist, gneiss), from the Neoproterozoic to Ordovician, 445 to 1,000 million years old.
The section below crosses 18 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 23×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Amphibolite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Ordovician, 445 to 1,000 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Schist, gneiss. Age: Neoproterozoic to Ordovician, 445 to 1,000 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Granite. Age: Neoproterozoic, 542 to 1,000 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Metavolcanic. Age: Neoproterozoic, 542 to 1,000 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Granofels, schist. Age: Neoproterozoic, 542 to 1,000 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Metavolcanic. Age: Neoproterozoic, 542 to 1,000 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. 12 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 Northborough reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of Howard Brook, the Assabet, the Concord and the Merrimack: about 85 river miles.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Northborough; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Northborough has a warm-summer humid continental climate. Summer afternoons average 80° in July; winter nights fall to about 17° in January. A normal year brings about 73 inches of snow; with the rain, that comes to about 48 inches of water.
On November 14 Northborough normally reaches 48° and falls to 33°. The record high is 68°, in 1989; the record low 10°, in 1986. The most rain on this date, 1.58 in, fell in 2009.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1892 from the Worcester Area threaded record (Worcester Regional Airport, 12 miles west-southwest, 690 ft higher). NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.