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The Park Service's Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network tracks ecosystem "vital signs" in national parks in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York — among them weather and climate. This is its summary of 2023 at Flight 93 National Memorial, using county data for Somerset County, Pennsylvania, from 1895 to 2023, from NOAA's Climate at a Glance program.
The Tower of Voices. NPS / Brenda Torrey.
Weather is the short-term state of the atmosphere — minutes to months: the rain, snow or sunshine outside right now. Climate is what to expect from patterns over 30 years or more. Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.
2023 in brief
- 2nd warmest year on record (since 1895).
- 48th driest — precipitation just below normal.
- Over the long term, Somerset County's average temperature has risen about 0.1°F per decade and its total precipitation about 0.41 inches per decade.
Temperature
The year averaged 50.0°F, 2.8°F above the 1895–2022 average. Every season but spring was well above normal, and ten months were warmer than usual.
| Month | Average (°F) | Departure (°F) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 34.3 | +9.3 |
| February | 36.1 | +9.6 |
| March | 36.9 | +1.4 |
| April | 50.1 | +4.0 |
| May | 54.1 | −2.5 |
| June | 61.5 | −3.0 |
| July | 70.2 | +1.9 |
| August | 67.2 | +0.6 |
| September | 61.6 | +1.2 |
| October | 52.4 | +2.9 |
| November | 38.6 | +0.1 |
| December | 36.7 | +8.0 |
Figure 1. 2023 seasonal and annual temperature rankings for Somerset County, from coldest (bottom) to warmest (top) since 1895. Winter is January–March, spring April–June, summer July–September, autumn October–December. NPS.
Precipitation
42.46 inches fell — 1.82 inches below average — with a notably dry spring.
| Month | Total (in.) | Departure (in.) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 4.19 | +0.71 |
| February | 2.88 | −0.08 |
| March | 3.87 | −0.04 |
| April | 2.75 | −1.04 |
| May | 2.83 | −1.44 |
| June | 4.57 | +0.01 |
| July | 5.76 | +1.43 |
| August | 4.15 | +0.12 |
| September | 2.91 | −0.59 |
| October | 3.42 | +0.30 |
| November | 2.45 | −0.57 |
| December | 2.68 | −0.63 |
Figure 2. 2023 seasonal and annual precipitation rankings for Somerset County, from driest (bottom) to wettest (top) since 1895. NPS.
The long view
Since 1895, the county's average temperature has risen about 0.1°F per decade and its precipitation about 0.41 inches per decade. National Park Service scientists' models project that by 2100 the park's average temperature will rise 3.1–9.2°F (best to worst case) and its precipitation 6–12% (Gonzalez et al., 2018).
Figure 3. Annual average temperature and total precipitation for Somerset County, 1895–2023; dashed lines show the linear trend. NPS.
Rapid climate change challenges the parks as never before — shifting wildlife migrations, more destructive storms threatening cultural resources and facilities, disrupted habitat. The NPS climate change site explains the effects, the Park Service's response, and how to help.
Sources
Based on "2023 Weather in Review: Flight 93 National Memorial," National Park Service, Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network, with data from NOAA's Climate at a Glance program and NClimDiv dataset (version v1.0.0-20240105); a work of the United States government in the public domain.
Dans ces publicationsFlight 93 National Memorial
Licence : CC0 1.0 (domaine public) · Adapté de www.nps.gov
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