A sunset over Shenandoah's wooded mountains. NPS.
The Park Service's Mid-Atlantic Inventory and Monitoring Network tracks ecosystem "vital signs" across the region, including weather and climate. This is its summary of 2023 at Shenandoah National Park.
The figures are county-level averages for the eight counties around the park — Albemarle, Augusta, Greene, Madison, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham and Warren, Virginia — from 1895 to 2023, courtesy of NOAA's Climate at a Glance program. Individual stations, especially at the park's high elevations, may differ.
Weather vs. climate
Weather is the short-term state of the atmosphere, over minutes to months — rain, snow or a warm, sunny day right now. Climate is what to expect from long-term patterns of 30 years or more. As the saying goes, climate is what you expect (a hot summer); weather is what you get (a warm, rainy day).
2023 in brief
- The warmest year on record (since 1895) for the counties around the park.
- The 28th driest year on record.
- Over the long term, both temperature and precipitation have risen.
Temperature
Every season but spring was warmer than normal, and ten months were above average — January and February by 9.1 °F and 10.0 °F.
2023 seasonal and annual temperature rankings; an arrow at the top would mean the warmest on record since 1895, at the bottom the coldest. Winter = Jan–Mar, spring = Apr–Jun, summer = Jul–Sep, autumn = Oct–Dec. NPS.
| Month | Average (°F) | Departure from 1895–2022 average (°F) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 41.3 | +9.1 |
| February | 44.1 | +10.0 |
| March | 45.5 | +2.9 |
| April | 56.7 | +4.4 |
| May | 60.0 | −1.7 |
| June | 66.8 | −2.6 |
| July | 75.9 | +2.6 |
| August | 73.4 | +1.8 |
| September | 67.3 | +1.9 |
| October | 57.9 | +3.4 |
| November | 44.6 | +0.7 |
| December | 40.8 | +5.9 |
| 2023 | 56.2 | +3.2 |
Precipitation
Every season was near or below normal. In all, 36.06 inches fell — 5.27 inches below the long-term average.
2023 seasonal and annual precipitation rankings; an arrow at the top would mean the wettest on record since 1895, at the bottom the driest. NPS.
| Month | Total (in.) | Departure from 1895–2022 average (in.) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1.86 | −1.05 |
| February | 2.89 | +0.37 |
| March | 1.59 | −1.73 |
| April | 3.56 | +0.27 |
| May | 2.34 | −1.64 |
| June | 4.55 | +0.41 |
| July | 4.66 | +0.54 |
| August | 2.14 | −1.96 |
| September | 4.04 | +0.39 |
| October | 1.01 | −2.39 |
| November | 2.90 | 0.00 |
| December | 4.50 | +1.53 |
| 2023 | 36.06 | −5.27 |
Long-term trends and the future
Since 1895, average annual temperature around the park has risen about 0.2 °F per decade, and annual precipitation about 0.38 inches per decade.
Annual average temperature and total precipitation, 1895–2023, with linear trends (dashed). NPS.
Park Service scientists project that by 2100, average annual temperature at the park will rise 3.1–8.8 °F (best to worst case), and annual precipitation will increase 8–14% (Gonzalez and others, 2018).
Rapid climate change is challenging parks in new ways — shifting wildlife migrations, more destructive storms threatening cultural resources and facilities, and disrupted habitat.
Sources
Based on "2023 Weather in Review: Shenandoah National Park," 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.
In these publicationsShenandoah National Park
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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