The Lovell 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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−27° on Nov. 16, 1959, the coldest reading for this week of the year since 1897. Next is −20° in 1911.
Lovell’s center stands about 3,840 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 3,780 ft to 4,040 ft, a difference of 260 ft: rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Little Sheep Mountain, about 5,140 ft, 7 miles east-southeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Alluvium and Colluvium (clay, silt, sand), from the Pleistocene to Holocene, less than 2.6 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 16×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Clay, silt, sand. Age: Pleistocene to Holocene, less than 2.6 million years old. About 10 mi of the line.
Shale, siltstone. Age: Late Cretaceous, 78 to 83 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Gravel. Age: Pleistocene to Holocene, less than 2.6 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Sandstone, siltstone. Age: Permian to Early Triassic, 247 to 299 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Shale. Age: Early Cretaceous, 100 to 145 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Sandstone, dolostone, shale. Age: Carboniferous to Permian, 252 to 359 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 Lovell reaches the Gulf of America by way of the Shoshone, the Bighorn, the Yellowstone, the Missouri and the Mississippi: about 3,190 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Lake Oahe, Lake Sakakawea, Lake Sharpe and Lake Francis Case.
1,170 miles of the trip are on the Mississippi.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Lovell; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Lovell has a cold desert climate. Summer afternoons average 87° in July; winter nights fall to about 7° in January. A normal year brings about 13 inches of snow; with the rain, that comes to about 6 inches of water.
On November 14 Lovell normally reaches 45° and falls to 21°. The record high is 69°, in 1999; the record low −20°, in 1959. The most rain on this date, 0.16 in, fell in 1991.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1897 at Lovell, here. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
