The Zenith Colony 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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Chance of showers; cooler
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−30° on Nov. 13, 1955, the coldest reading for this week of the year since 1903. Next is −30° in 1959.
Zenith Colony’s center stands about 4,200 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 3,960 ft to 4,190 ft, a difference of 230 ft: rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Landslide Butte, about 4,650 ft, 14 miles west-northwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Two Medicine Formation (sandstone, siltstone, mudstone), from the Late Cretaceous, 66 to 84 million years old.
The section below crosses 3 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 25×. 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, siltstone, mudstone. Age: Late Cretaceous, 66 to 84 million years old. About 21 mi of the line.
Sandstone, siltstone, shale. Age: Late Cretaceous, 72 to 87 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Shale, limestone, dolostone. Age: Late Cretaceous, 84 to 90 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.
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 Zenith Colony reaches the Gulf of America by way of the Red River, the Milk River, the Missouri and the Mississippi: about 3,440 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 Zenith Colony; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Zenith Colony has a cold semi-arid climate. Summer afternoons average 80° in July; winter nights fall to about 11° in January. About 11 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 Zenith Colony normally reaches 41° and falls to 21°. The record high is 68°, in 1999; the record low −14°, in 2014. The most rain on this date, 0.46 in, fell in 1988.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1903 at Cut Bank Airport, 18 miles south, 360 ft lower. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
