The Hickory 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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5.77 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1949. The next wettest, 2.67 inches, fell in 1972.
Hickory’s center stands about 1,160 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 900 ft to 1,190 ft, a difference of 290 ft: rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Hibriten Mountain, about 2,210 ft, 15 miles northwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Mica Schist (mica-schist), from the Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 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 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 to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 14 mi of the line.
Biotite-gneiss, mica-schist, calc-silicate-rock. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Amphibolite, biotite-gneiss. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 4 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 Hickory reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of Falling Creek, the Catawba, the Wateree, the Congaree, the Santee and the South Santee: about 370 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 Hickory; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Hickory has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 88° in July; winter nights fall to about 30° in January. About 47 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 Hickory normally reaches 60° and falls to 39°. The record high is 79°, in 1999; the record low 17°, in 1986. The most rain on this date, 1.65 in, fell in 1972.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1949 at Hickory Faa Airport, 2 miles west-northwest. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
