The High Point 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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4.72 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1921. The next wettest, 4.18 inches, fell in 1940.
High Point’s center stands about 940 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 780 ft to 940 ft, a difference of 160 ft: gently rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Shepherd Mountain, about 1,180 ft, 14 miles south-southeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Metamorphosed Gabbro and Diorite (metagabbro, metadiorite), from the Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic, 252 to 1,000 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 45×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Metagranite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Middle Cambrian, 520 to 650 million years old. About 7 mi of the line.
Granitic. Age: Late Mississippian to Permian, 265 to 325 million years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Metagabbro, metadiorite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic, 252 to 1,000 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Metavolcanic. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Metabasalt. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Slate, argillite. 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 High Point reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of Boulding Branch, the Deep River and the Cape Fear: about 310 river miles.
190 miles of the trip are on the Cape Fear.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of High Point; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
High Point has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 89° in July; winter nights fall to about 32° in January. About 48 inches of rain fall in a normal year, with about 2 inches of snow.
On November 14 High Point normally reaches 63° and falls to 41°. The record high is 80°, in 1931; the record low 19°, in 1986. The most rain on this date, 1.54 in, fell in 1940.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1921 at High Point, 2 miles east-northeast. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
