The Farmington 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.
5.15 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1940. The next wettest, 4.05 inches, fell in 2009.
Farmington’s center stands about 790 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 690 ft to 860 ft, a difference of 170 ft: gently rolling country.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Gabbro of Concord Plutonic Suite, from the Early Ordovician to Early Devonian, 399 to 479 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 52×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Metagabbro, metadiorite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic, 252 to 1,000 million years old. About 10 mi of the line.
Gabbro. Age: Early Ordovician to Early Devonian, 399 to 479 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 4 mi of the line.
Granitic. Age: Late Mississippian to Permian, 265 to 325 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Conglomerate, sandstone. Age: Triassic, 202 to 252 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Phyllite, schist. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 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. 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 Farmington reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of Cedar Creek, Dutchman Creek, the Yadkin, the Pee Dee, the Great Pee Dee, Schooner Creek and the Waccamaw: about 300 river miles.
Lake on the way: Lake Tillery.
150 miles of the trip are on the Great Pee Dee.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Farmington; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Farmington has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 87° in July; winter nights fall to about 25° in January. A normal year brings about 7 inches of snow; with the rain, that comes to about 47 inches of water.
On November 14 Farmington normally reaches 60° and falls to 34°. The record high is 77°, in 1973; the record low 16°, in 1986. The most rain on this date, 1.87 in, fell in 1972.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1940 at Yadkinville 6 E, 8 miles north. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.