The DeCordova 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.
5.53 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1907. The next wettest, 3.40 inches, fell in 1914.
DeCordova’s center stands about 740 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 690 ft to 880 ft, a difference of 190 ft: gently rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Comanche Peak, about 1,230 ft, 7 miles west-southwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Glen Rose Limestone (limestone, marlstone), from the Early Cretaceous, 100 to 145 million years old.
The section below crosses 9 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 35×. 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: Early Cretaceous, 100 to 145 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Sand. Age: Pleistocene to Holocene, less than 2.6 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Limestone, marlstone. Age: Early Cretaceous, 100 to 145 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Limestone, shale. Age: Early Cretaceous, 100 to 145 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Claystone. Age: Early Cretaceous, 100 to 145 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Clay. Age: Early Cretaceous, 100 to 145 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. 3 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 DeCordova reaches the Gulf of America by way of Lake Granbury and the Brazos: about 550 river miles.
Lake on the way: Lake Granbury.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of DeCordova; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
DeCordova has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 95° in July; winter nights fall to about 33° in January. About 38 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 DeCordova normally reaches 67° and falls to 44°. The record high is 90°, in 1989; the record low 21°, in 2018. The most rain on this date, 1.49 in, fell in 1947.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1907 at Cleburne, 19 miles east-southeast. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.