The Alcoa 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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3.86 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1871. The next wettest, 3.51 inches, fell in 1957.
Alcoa’s center stands about 850 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 840 ft to 1,070 ft, a difference of 230 ft: rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Cockspur Knob, about 2,670 ft, 15 miles south-southwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Maryville Limestone, Rogersville Shale, Rutledge Limestone (limestone, shale), from the Cambrian, 487 to 542 million years old.
The section below crosses 15 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 11×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Dolostone, limestone. Age: Ordovician, 445 to 487 million years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Limestone. Age: Ordovician, 445 to 487 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Shale. Age: Ordovician, 445 to 487 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Limestone, shale. Age: Cambrian, 487 to 542 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Limestone, dolostone. Age: Ordovician, 445 to 487 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Shale. Age: Ordovician, 445 to 487 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. 9 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 Alcoa reaches the Gulf of America by way of Russell Branch, the Little River, the Tennessee, the Ohio and the Mississippi: about 1,650 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Guntersville Lake, White Lake (historical), Pickwick Lake and Cummings Lake.
970 miles of the trip are on the Mississippi.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Alcoa; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Alcoa has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 88° in July; winter nights fall to about 30° in January. About 52 inches of rain fall in a normal year, with about 5 inches of snow.
On November 14 Alcoa normally reaches 60° and falls to 38°. The record high is 80°, in 1993; the record low 20°, in 1986. The most rain on this date, 2.75 in, fell in 1915.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1871 from the Knoxville Area threaded record (Knoxville Airport, 2 miles north-northwest, 120 ft higher). NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
