The Cedar City 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
Partly cloudy
Mostly cloudy
Showers likely; cooler
Partly cloudy
Showers likely
Showers likely
75° on Nov. 15, 2016, the hottest reading for this week of the year since 1948. Next is 73° in 1999.
Cedar City’s center stands about 5,850 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 5,560 ft to 8,010 ft, a difference of 2,450 ft: mountain country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Brian Head, about 11,300 ft, 13 miles east.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Alluvium and colluvium (unconsolidated), from the Quaternary, less than 2.6 million years old.
The section below crosses 10 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 4×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Unconsolidated. Age: Quaternary, less than 2.6 million years old. About 10 mi of the line.
Sandstone-mudstone, sandstone. Age: Late Cretaceous, 72 to 94 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Volcanic. Age: Eocene to Miocene, 5.3 to 56 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Felsic-volcanic. Age: Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene, 12 to 28 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Limestone, mudstone. Age: Late Paleocene to Early Oligocene, 28 to 59 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Sandstone, limestone. Age: Middle Jurassic, 164 to 175 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. 4 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.
Cedar City has a cold semi-arid climate. Summer afternoons average 91° in July; winter nights fall to about 16° in December. About 11 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 Cedar City normally reaches 54° and falls to 24°. The record high is 71°, in 2016; the record low 0°, in 1964. The most rain on this date, 1.02 in, fell in 1987.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1948 at Cedar City Airport, 3 miles northwest, 260 ft lower. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
