The Meckling 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
Mostly sunny; warmer
Mostly sunny
Partly cloudy
Partly cloudy
Mostly sunny; cooler
Showers likely
80° on Nov. 14, 2025, the hottest reading for this week of the year since 1893. Next is 79° in 1953.
Meckling’s center stands about 1,150 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 1,140 ft to 1,160 ft, a difference of 20 ft: nearly flat ground. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Pumpkin Hill, about 1,430 ft, 15 miles southeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Dakota Formation (sandstone), from the Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous, 66 to 145 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 52×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Shale. Age: Late Cretaceous, 66 to 100 million years old. About 7 mi of the line.
Limestone, shale. Age: Late Cretaceous, 66 to 100 million years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Chalk, marlstone, shale. Age: Late Cretaceous, 66 to 100 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Shale, mudstone, marlstone. Age: Late Cretaceous, 66 to 100 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Shale. Age: Late Cretaceous, 66 to 100 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Shale. Age: Late Cretaceous, 66 to 100 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.
Meckling has a hot-summer humid continental climate. Summer afternoons average 86° in July; winter nights fall to about 10° in January. About 28 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 Meckling normally reaches 49° and falls to 26°. The record high is 80°, in 2025; the record low −24°, in 1959. The most rain on this date, 1.26 in, fell in 1926.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1893 at Vermillion 2 SE, 9 miles southeast. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
