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The National Park Service’s Mid-Atlantic Inventory and Monitoring Network tracks “vital signs” of ecosystem health, and weather and climate is one of them. This review of 2022 at Petersburg National Battlefield in Virginia uses county-level data from NOAA’s Climate at a Glance program, averaged across the surrounding Dinwiddie, Hopewell and Prince George areas, with records back to 1895.
Weather is what happens over minutes to months — rain, snow, a warm sunny day. Climate is the pattern expected from 30 years or more of records: climate is what you expect, like a hot summer; weather is what you get, like a warm, rainy day.
Petersburg National Battlefield. NPS photo.
The year in brief
2022 was warmer than average with precipitation just below normal — the 21st-warmest and 52nd-driest year on record for the park’s area.
Temperature
Every season except autumn was warmer than normal, and nine months ran above average, with February (+4.2°F) and March (+3.9°F) the warmest relative to normal.
| Month | Average (°F) | vs. 1895–2021 (°F) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 36.6 | −1.5 |
| February | 44.3 | +4.2 |
| March | 51.9 | +3.9 |
| April | 58.7 | +1.5 |
| May | 68.2 | +1.8 |
| June | 74.9 | +0.6 |
| July | 80.0 | +1.8 |
| August | 77.6 | +1.0 |
| September | 71.4 | +0.9 |
| October | 56.7 | −2.5 |
| November | 51.8 | +2.9 |
| December | 39.9 | −0.6 |
| Year | 59.4 | +1.2 |
Precipitation
42.44 inches fell, 1.96 inches below average. Winter and autumn were wet, and summer was particularly dry — September brought just 1.95 inches.
| Month | Total (in.) | vs. 1895–2021 (in.) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 5.51 | +2.16 |
| February | 1.77 | −1.32 |
| March | 4.57 | +0.79 |
| April | 2.60 | −0.75 |
| May | 4.25 | +0.29 |
| June | 3.54 | −0.62 |
| July | 4.43 | −0.54 |
| August | 3.23 | −1.42 |
| September | 1.95 | −1.91 |
| October | 2.68 | −0.48 |
| November | 3.68 | +0.90 |
| December | 4.21 | +0.96 |
| Year | 42.44 | −1.96 |
The long view
Since 1895, average temperature in the park’s area has risen about 0.1°F per decade and annual precipitation about 0.41 inches per decade.
Annual average temperature and total precipitation, 1895–2022; dashed lines show the linear trend. Image from NPS’s page.
Park Service scientists project that by 2100 the park’s average temperature will rise 2.7°F to 8.3°F, from the best-case to the worst-case scenario, and annual precipitation 8% to 13% (Gonzalez et al., 2018). Rapid climate change is already reshaping parks — altering wildlife migrations, bringing more destructive storms that threaten cultural resources and facilities, and disrupting habitat.
Sources
Based on "2022 Weather in Review: Petersburg National Battlefield," Mid-Atlantic Inventory and Monitoring Network, National Park Service, using NOAA’s NClimDiv data; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
Dans ces publicationsPetersburg National Battlefield
Licence : CC0 1.0 (domaine public) · Adapté de www.nps.gov
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