The Oak Ridge 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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5.13 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1907. The next wettest, 3.67 inches, fell in 1993.
Oak Ridge’s center stands about 590 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 460 ft to 620 ft, a difference of 160 ft: gently rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Grassy Knob, about 810 ft, 13 miles southeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Decorah Group, Plattin Group (limestone), from the Middle Ordovician, 459 to 471 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 58×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Dolostone, sandstone, limestone. Age: Early Ordovician to Middle Ordovician, 459 to 487 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Limestone. Age: Middle Ordovician, 459 to 471 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Limestone, sandstone. Age: Early Devonian to Late Devonian, 359 to 422 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Dolostone. Age: Early Ordovician, 471 to 487 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Dolostone, limestone, shale. Age: Middle Ordovician, 459 to 471 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Limestone. Age: Middle Ordovician to Late Ordovician, 445 to 471 million years old. About 2 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 Oak Ridge reaches the Gulf of America by way of Byrd Creek, Upper Whitewater Creek, the Castor River Diversion Channel and the Mississippi: about 1,070 river miles.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Oak Ridge; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Oak Ridge has a hot-summer humid continental climate. Summer afternoons average 88° in July; winter nights fall to about 21° in January. About 46 inches of rain fall in a normal year, with about 5 inches of snow.
On November 14 Oak Ridge normally reaches 56° and falls to 33°. The record high is 86°, in 1989; the record low 10°, in 1976. The most rain on this date, 3.20 in, fell in 1993.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1907 at Perryville Water Plt, 19 miles north-northwest. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
