The West Cocalico 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.
Partly cloudy
Partly cloudy
Partly cloudy
Mostly sunny
Sunny
Mostly sunny
Mostly sunny
78° on Nov. 15, 1993, the hottest reading for this week of the year since 1858. Next is 74° in 1902.
West Cocalico’s center stands about 490 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 390 ft to 1,140 ft, a difference of 750 ft: hilly country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Eagle Peak, about 1,320 ft, 5 miles north-northwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Hammer Creek Formation (sandstone), from the Triassic, 202 to 252 million years old.
The section below crosses 19 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 18×. 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. Age: Triassic, 202 to 252 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Limestone, dolostone. Age: Ordovician, 445 to 487 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Limestone. Age: Ordovician, 445 to 487 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Gneiss. Age: Precambrian. About 2 mi of the line.
Limestone. Age: Ordovician, 445 to 487 million years old. About 1 mi of the line.
Arkose. Age: Triassic, 202 to 252 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. 13 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 West Cocalico reaches Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean by way of Cocalico Creek, the Conestoga and the Susquehanna: about 85 river miles.
Lake on the way: Lake Aldred.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of West Cocalico; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
West Cocalico has a hot-summer humid continental climate. Summer afternoons average 87° in July; winter nights fall to about 23° in January. About 45 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 West Cocalico normally reaches 54° and falls to 36°. The record high is 74°, in 1955; the record low 16°, in 1986. The most rain on this date, 1.37 in, fell in 1995.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1858 from the Reading Area threaded record (Reading 4 SW, 10 miles east-northeast, 170 ft lower). NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
