The Townsend 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.
Townsend’s center stands about 1,080 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 1,030 ft to 2,200 ft, a difference of 1,170 ft: steep hill country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Silers Bald, about 5,580 ft, 13 miles southeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Knox Group, including Jonesboro Limestone, Newala Formation, Mascot Dolomite, Kingsport Formation, Longview Dolomite, Chepultepec Dolomite, Copper Ridge Dolomite, Conococheague Limestone (limestone, dolostone), from the Cambrian to Ordovician, 445 to 542 million years old.
The section below crosses 14 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 5×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Graywacke. Age: Precambrian. About 4 mi of the line.
Siltstone. Age: Precambrian. About 3 mi of the line.
Shale. Age: Ordovician, 445 to 487 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Metagraywacke. Age: Neoproterozoic, 542 to 1,000 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Limestone, dolostone. Age: Cambrian to Ordovician, 445 to 542 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Dolostone, limestone. 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. 8 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 Townsend reaches the Gulf of America by way of the Little River, the Tennessee, the Ohio and the Mississippi: about 1,670 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 Townsend; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Townsend 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 Townsend 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, 16 miles northwest, 110 ft lower). NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
