Gettysburg and Eisenhower Parks' Weather in 2022: 22nd Warmest on Record

NPS photo.

Why weather is tracked

To understand the health of park ecosystems, the Park Service's Mid-Atlantic Inventory and Monitoring Network measures ecosystem "vital signs" across the region — and weather and climate is one of them. This summary covers Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site, using county-scale data for Adams County, Pennsylvania, over the whole record, 1895–2022, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate at a Glance program.

Weather or climate? Weather is the atmosphere's short-term changes, over minutes to months — whatever is happening outside right now, rain, snow or a warm sunny day. Climate is what you expect from long-term patterns over 30 years or more. An easy way to remember it: climate is what you might expect, like a hot summer; weather is what you get, like a warm, rainy day. Below, 2022's weather is set against the long-term climate: how did it compare with a "normal" year?

2022 in short

A warm year with near-normal precipitation: the 22nd warmest and 64th wettest on record for Adams County, since 1895. Over the long term, both temperature and precipitation have risen.

Temperature

Every season was warmer than normal, and nine months were above average. February, March, August and November each ran more than 3 °F above their long-term averages.

Seasonal and annual temperature rankings for Adams County. An arrow at the top would mark the warmest year or season on record, since 1895; at the bottom, the coldest. Winter is January–March, spring April–June, summer July–September, autumn October–December.

Departures compare 2022 with the averages for 1895–2021.

Precipitation

Near normal overall — the 64th-wettest year — though winter was very dry. The county got 0.16 inches less than its long-term average. May was the wettest month, 2.19 inches above average; March fell 1.74 inches short.

Seasonal and annual precipitation rankings for Adams County. An arrow at the top would mark the wettest year or season on record, since 1895; at the bottom, the driest. Seasons as above.

The long view, 1895–2022

In Adams County, average yearly temperature has risen about 0.2 °F per decade, and yearly precipitation about 0.27 inches per decade, since 1895.

Annual average temperature (°F) and total precipitation (in.) for Adams County, 1895–2022. Dashed lines are linear estimates of change.

Park Service scientists have also projected the future. By 2100, models estimate the parks' average yearly temperature will rise 3.1–9.2 °F, from the best-case to the worst-case scenario, and yearly precipitation by 7–14% (Gonzalez and others, 2018).

Climate change and the parks

Today's rapid climate change challenges national parks in ways never seen before: wildlife migrations shift, more destructive storms threaten cultural resources and park facilities, and habitat is disrupted. The Park Service's climate change site explains how climate change affects the parks, what the Service is doing, and how you can help.

More: the Mid-Atlantic Network's weather and climate monitoring and a printable version of this summary (PDF).

Sources

Based on "2022 Weather in Review: Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site," Mid-Atlantic Inventory and Monitoring Network, National Park Service, with data from NOAA's nClimDiv dataset; a work of the United States government in the public domain.