To track ecosystem health, the National Park Service's Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network monitors "vital signs" at parks in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York — weather and climate among them. This is the 2023 summary for Fort Necessity National Battlefield, using data for Fayette County, Pennsylvania, from 1895 through 2023, courtesy of NOAA's Climate at a Glance program.
Mount Washington Tavern at Fort Necessity National Battlefield. Credit: National Park Service.
Weather or climate? Weather is what the atmosphere is doing now and over minutes to months; climate is what you expect based on patterns of 30 years or more. Climate is the hot summer you expect; weather is the warm rainy day you get.
2023 at a glance
Well above normal in temperature, close to normal in precipitation: the 6th warmest and 58th driest year since 1895.
Temperature
The year averaged 52.0°F, 2.1°F above the 1895–2022 average. Winter and fall were extremely warm, spring quite cold. January (+8.9°F), February (+8.8°F) and December (+8.0°F) were especially mild.
| Month | Average (°F) | Departure (°F) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 36.7 | +8.9 |
| February | 38.3 | +8.8 |
| March | 39.6 | +1.1 |
| April | 51.6 | +2.5 |
| May | 55.4 | −3.7 |
| June | 63.5 | −3.6 |
| July | 72.2 | +1.3 |
| August | 68.9 | −0.5 |
| September | 64.1 | +0.7 |
| October | 54.2 | +2.0 |
| November | 40.4 | −0.6 |
| December | 39.3 | +8.0 |
2023 temperature rankings by season and for the year; an arrow at the top would mean the warmest since 1895. Winter = January–March, spring = April–June, summer = July–September, autumn = October–December. Credit: National Park Service.
Precipitation
44.30 inches fell, 1.13 inches below the long-term average. Winter and summer were wet; spring was very dry.
| Month | Total (in.) | Departure (in.) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 5.53 | +2.02 |
| February | 2.62 | −0.36 |
| March | 3.84 | −0.06 |
| April | 2.37 | −1.54 |
| May | 2.92 | −1.41 |
| June | 4.53 | −0.18 |
| July | 5.22 | +0.48 |
| August | 5.71 | +1.53 |
| September | 2.49 | −1.02 |
| October | 4.12 | +1.02 |
| November | 2.20 | −0.94 |
| December | 2.75 | −0.67 |
2023 precipitation rankings by season and for the year; an arrow at the top would mean the wettest since 1895. Credit: National Park Service.
The long view
Since 1895, annual average temperature in Fayette County has risen about 0.05°F per decade, and annual precipitation about 0.33 inches per decade.
Annual average temperature and total precipitation, 1895–2023; dashed lines show the linear trends. Credit: National Park Service.
Park Service scientists project that by 2100, annual average temperature at the park will rise 3.1–9.2°F, from the best-case to the worst-case scenario, and annual precipitation 6–12% (Gonzalez et al., 2018). Climate change is already altering wildlife migrations, bringing more destructive storms and disrupting habitats; the NPS climate change site explains more.
Sources
Based on "2023 Weather in Review: Fort Necessity National Battlefield," Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. Data from NOAA's NClimDiv dataset.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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