The Union 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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80° on Nov. 15, 1993, the hottest reading for this week of the year since 1843. Next is 77° in 1973.
Union’s center stands about 130 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 40 ft to 320 ft, a difference of 280 ft: rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Sugar Loaf, about 810 ft, 15 miles west-northwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Passaic Formation Mudstone facies (sandstone-mudstone, siltstone-mudstone), from the Early Jurassic to Late Jurassic, 145 to 202 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 30×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Sandstone-mudstone, siltstone-mudstone. Age: Early Jurassic to Late Jurassic, 145 to 202 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Siltstone, shale. Age: Early Jurassic to Late Jurassic, 145 to 202 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Basalt. Age: Early Jurassic, 175 to 202 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Sandstone, siltstone. Age: Early Jurassic to Late Jurassic, 145 to 202 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Clay, sand. Age: Late Cretaceous, 66 to 100 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Basalt. Age: Early Jurassic, 175 to 202 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. 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 Union reaches New York Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean by way of the West Branch Elizabeth and the Elizabeth: about 9 river miles.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Union; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Union has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 87° in July; winter nights fall to about 26° in January. A normal year brings about 32 inches of snow; with the rain, that comes to about 47 inches of water.
On November 14 Union normally reaches 56° and falls to 39°. The record high is 73°, in 1993; the record low 18°, in 1905. The most rain on this date, 1.81 in, fell in 1871.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1843 from the Newark Area threaded record (Newark Liberty International Airport, 5 miles east, 120 ft lower). NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
