The Catawba 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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Mostly sunny; warmer
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4.39 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1901. The next wettest, 3.50 inches, fell in 2009.
Catawba’s center stands about 850 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 760 ft to 1,020 ft, a difference of 260 ft: rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Barrett Mountain, about 1,870 ft, 15 miles northwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Foliated to Massive Granitic Rock (granite), from the Early Pennsylvanian to Permian, 270 to 320 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 32×. 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, biotite-gneiss. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 8 mi of the line.
Granite. Age: Early Pennsylvanian to Permian, 270 to 320 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Mica-schist. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Mica-schist. Age: Neoproterozoic, 542 to 1,000 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Biotite-gneiss, mica-schist, calc-silicate-rock. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 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.
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 Catawba reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of Lake Norman, the Catawba, the Wateree, the Congaree, the Santee and the South Santee: about 340 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Lib Pines Lake and Lake Norman.
95 miles of the trip are on the Catawba.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Catawba; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Catawba has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 87° in July; winter nights fall to about 26° in January. About 47 inches of rain fall in a normal year, with about 5 inches of snow.
On November 14 Catawba normally reaches 60° and falls to 34°. The record high is 81°, in 1999; the record low 17°, in 2013. The most rain on this date, 1.41 in, fell in 1972.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1901 at Statesville 2 NNE, 13 miles east-northeast. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
