The Luther 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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−25° on Nov. 13, 1959, the coldest reading for this week of the year since 1894. Next is −24° in 1916.
Luther’s center stands about 5,130 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 4,890 ft to 6,060 ft, a difference of 1,170 ft: steep hill country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Silver Run Peak, about 12,440 ft, 13 miles south-southwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Alluvium (gravel, sand, silt), from the Pleistocene to Holocene, less than 1.8 million years old.
The section below crosses 8 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.
Sandstone, shale. Age: Early Paleocene to Middle Paleocene, 59 to 66 million years old. About 8 mi of the line.
Gneiss. Age: Archean. About 7 mi of the line.
Gravel, sand, silt. Age: Pleistocene to Holocene, less than 1.8 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone. Age: Middle Paleocene, 59 to 62 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Shale, sandstone, bentonite. Age: Early Paleocene, 62 to 66 million years old. About 0.7 mi of the line.
Sandstone, shale. Age: Late Cretaceous, 72 to 84 million years old. About 0.5 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 2 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 Luther reaches the Gulf of America by way of Barlow Creek, West Red Lodge Creek, Red Lodge Creek, Rock Creek, the Clarks Fork Yellowstone, the Yellowstone, the Missouri and the Mississippi: about 3,190 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Lake Oahe, Lake Sakakawea, Lake Sharpe and Lake Francis Case.
1,170 miles of the trip are on the Mississippi.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Luther; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Luther has a warm-summer humid continental climate. Summer afternoons average 81° in July; winter nights fall to about 14° in January. A normal year brings about 142 inches of snow; with the rain, that comes to about 23 inches of water.
On November 14 Luther normally reaches 44° and falls to 22°. The record high is 66°, in 1999; the record low −20°, in 1955. The most rain on this date, 0.68 in, fell in 1993.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1894 at Red Lodge, 11 miles southeast, 520 ft higher. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
