The Lexington 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.
Sunny
Mostly sunny; warmer
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3.70 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1902. The next wettest, 3.65 inches, fell in 2020.
Lexington’s center stands about 800 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 660 ft to 830 ft, a difference of 170 ft: gently rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Three Hat Mountain, about 1,220 ft, 8 miles southeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Metamorphosed Mafic Rock (metagabbro, metadiorite), from the Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic, 252 to 1,000 million years old.
The section below crosses 6 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 58×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Granitic. Age: Late Mississippian to Permian, 265 to 325 million years old. About 9 mi of the line.
Metadacite, metarhyolite, metavolcanic. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Metagabbro, metadiorite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic, 252 to 1,000 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Metavolcanic. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Slate, argillite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 1 mi of the line.
Phyllite, schist. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 0.6 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 Lexington reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of Rat Spring Branch, Swearing Creek, the Yadkin, the Pee Dee, the Great Pee Dee, Schooner Creek and the Waccamaw: about 270 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 Lexington; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Lexington has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 89° in July; winter nights fall to about 28° in January. About 46 inches of rain fall in a normal year, with about 3 inches of snow.
On November 14 Lexington normally reaches 63° and falls to 36°. The record high is 79°, in 1999; the record low 18°, in 1906. The most rain on this date, 2.00 in, fell in 2018.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1902 at Lexington, here. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
