The Salina 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; warmer
Mostly cloudy
Showers likely
Partly cloudy
Showers likely
Showers likely
−12° on Nov. 17, 1964, the coldest reading for this week of the year since 1893. Next is −2° in 1955.
Salina’s center stands about 5,160 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 5,100 ft to 6,330 ft, a difference of 1,230 ft: steep hill country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Willow Creek Peak, about 9,750 ft, 14 miles west.
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 11 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.
Unconsolidated. Age: Quaternary, less than 2.6 million years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Shale, marlstone. Age: Early Eocene to Late Eocene, 34 to 56 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Limestone, mixed-clastic. Age: Late Paleocene to Early Eocene, 48 to 59 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Siltstone-mudstone. Age: Late Cretaceous to Paleocene, 56 to 100 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Felsic-volcanic. Age: Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene, 12 to 28 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Siltstone-mudstone, sandstone. Age: Late Cretaceous to Early Eocene, 48 to 84 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. 5 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 Salina reaches Sevier Lake by way of Salina Creek and the Sevier: about 210 river miles. Sevier Lake has no outlet to the sea: the water leaves only by evaporating or soaking into the ground.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Salina; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Salina has a cold semi-arid climate. Summer afternoons average 90° in July; winter nights fall to about 16° in December. A normal year brings about 18 inches of snow; with the rain, that comes to about 8 inches of water.
On November 14 Salina normally reaches 54° and falls to 24°. The record high is 74°, in 1967; the record low 5°, in 1916. The most rain on this date, 0.45 in, fell in 1991.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1893 at Richfield Radio Ksvc, 18 miles southwest, 120 ft higher. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
