The Strafford 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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−1° on Nov. 17, 1967, the coldest reading for this week of the year since 1868. Next is 0° in 1972.
Strafford’s center stands about 670 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 540 ft to 1,160 ft, a difference of 620 ft: hilly country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Straightback Mountain, about 1,880 ft, 14 miles north-northwest.
The section below crosses 10 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 16×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Pelitic-schist, metasandstone. Age: Silurian, 434 to 445 million years old. About 7 mi of the line.
Quartzite, metasedimentary. Age: Silurian, 422 to 445 million years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Granite. Age: Late Devonian, 359 to 384 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Metagraywacke. Age: Early Devonian, 410 to 414 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Tonalite. Age: Early Devonian to Late Devonian, 359 to 422 million years old. About 1 mi of the line.
Metaclastic. Age: Silurian, 434 to 445 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. 4 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 Strafford reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of the Isinglass, the Cocheco and the Piscataqua: about 35 river miles.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Strafford; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Strafford has a warm-summer humid continental climate. Summer afternoons average 83° in July; winter nights fall to about 13° in January. A normal year brings about 68 inches of snow; with the rain, that comes to about 42 inches of water.
On November 14 Strafford normally reaches 49° and falls to 29°. The record high is 71°, in 1989; the record low 7°, in 1986. The most rain on this date, 1.92 in, fell in 2009.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1868 from the Concord Area threaded record (Concord Municipal Airport, 18 miles west-southwest, 330 ft lower). NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
