The Gastonia 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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3.64 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1890. The next wettest, 3.10 inches, fell in 1940.
Gastonia’s center stands about 820 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 690 ft to 860 ft, a difference of 170 ft: gently rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Crowders Mountain, about 1,570 ft, 5 miles west-southwest.
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 9 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 22×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Mica-schist. Age: Neoproterozoic, 542 to 1,000 million years old. About 7 mi of the line.
Granite. Age: Early Pennsylvanian to Permian, 270 to 320 million years old. About 7 mi of the line.
Metarhyolite, metadacite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Metadiorite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic, 252 to 1,000 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Mica-schist. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Granitic. Age: Ordovician to Devonian, 359 to 487 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. 3 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 Gastonia reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of Catawba Creek, the Catawba, the Wateree, the Congaree, the Santee and the South Santee: about 300 river miles.
Lake on the way: Lib Pines Lake.
90 miles of the trip are on the Wateree.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Gastonia; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Gastonia has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 91° in July; winter nights fall to about 31° in January. About 44 inches of rain fall in a normal year, with about 1 inch of snow.
On November 14 Gastonia normally reaches 64° and falls to 40°. The record high is 80°, in 1999; the record low 21°, in 1986. The most rain on this date, 1.23 in, fell in 1940.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1890 at Gastonia, 2 miles east, 120 ft lower. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
