The Central 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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4.14 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1896. The next wettest, 3.95 inches, fell in 1935.
Central’s center stands about 900 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 660 ft to 970 ft, a difference of 310 ft: rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Glassy Mountain, about 1,700 ft, 14 miles north-northeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Biotite-plagioclase-quartz gneiss and biotite-muscovite schist (biotite-gneiss, mica-schist), from the Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old.
The section below crosses 3 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 36×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Biotite-gneiss, mica-schist. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 12 mi of the line.
Gneiss. Age: Ordovician, 445 to 487 million years old. About 11 mi of the line.
Hornblende-gneiss, amphibolite. 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.
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 Central reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of Eighteenmile Creek, the Seneca, Little Beaverdam Creek and the Savannah: about 310 river miles.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Central; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Central has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 91° in July; winter nights fall to about 32° in January. About 52 inches of rain fall in a normal year, with about 2 inches of snow.
On November 14 Central normally reaches 65° and falls to 40°. The record high is 82°, in 1931; the record low 23°, in 2013. The most rain on this date, 0.91 in, fell in 1908.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1896 at Clemson University, 5 miles south-southwest, 100 ft lower. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
