National Park Service photo.
The National Park Service's Mid-Atlantic Inventory and Monitoring Network tracks ecosystem "vital signs" in the region's parks, and weather and climate are among them. This summary of 2022 at Booker T. Washington National Monument uses county-level data for Franklin County, Virginia, going back to 1895, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate at a Glance program.
Weather and climate
Weather is the short-term state of the atmosphere, over minutes to months — rain, snow or a warm sunny day. Climate is the pattern expected from 30 years or more of records. Climate is what you expect, such as a hot summer; weather is what you get, such as a warm, rainy day. The figures below compare 2022's weather with the long-term climate.
2022 in brief
The year was warmer and much wetter than average: the 36th warmest and 18th wettest since records began in 1895. Over the long term, the county's average annual temperature has risen about 0.1°F per decade and its annual precipitation about 0.33 inches per decade.
Temperature
Three seasons were warmer than normal, as were eight months. February, March and November were each at least 2.5°F above their long-term averages.
Seasonal and annual temperature rankings for Franklin County, 2022; winter is January–March, spring April–June, summer July–September and autumn October–December. National Park Service figure.
| Month | Average (°F) | Compared with 1895–2021 average |
|---|---|---|
| January | 33.2 | −2.4 |
| February | 40.7 | +3.1 |
| March | 49.5 | +3.8 |
| April | 55.8 | +0.7 |
| May | 64.9 | +1.0 |
| June | 72.9 | +1.6 |
| July | 76.9 | +2.0 |
| August | 74.3 | +0.7 |
| September | 67.0 | −0.4 |
| October | 53.2 | −3.3 |
| November | 48.6 | +2.6 |
| December | 36.7 | −1.1 |
| Year | 56.1 | +0.7 |
Precipitation
Three seasons were wetter than normal. The year brought 50.78 inches, 6.82 inches above the long-term average. May (+2.72 inches) and November (+2.46) were especially wet; June, with just 1.13 inches, was 2.94 inches short.
Seasonal and annual precipitation rankings for Franklin County, 2022. National Park Service figure.
| Month | Total (inches) | Compared with 1895–2021 average |
|---|---|---|
| January | 4.26 | +0.98 |
| February | 3.56 | +0.48 |
| March | 3.78 | +0.02 |
| April | 3.27 | −0.21 |
| May | 6.76 | +2.72 |
| June | 1.13 | −2.94 |
| July | 5.88 | +1.52 |
| August | 5.68 | +1.58 |
| September | 3.46 | −0.46 |
| October | 3.61 | +0.01 |
| November | 5.43 | +2.46 |
| December | 3.96 | +0.65 |
| Year | 50.78 | +6.82 |
Trends and projections
Annual average temperature and total precipitation in Franklin County, 1895–2022, with dashed lines showing the linear trends. National Park Service figure.
National Park Service scientists project that by 2100 the park's average annual temperature will rise by 2.9°F to 8.5°F, from the best-case to the worst-case scenario, and annual precipitation by 8–14% (Gonzalez and others, 2018). Rapid climate change is already challenging parks: shifting wildlife migrations, more destructive storms threatening cultural resources and facilities, disrupted habitat. The Park Service's climate change site explains what it is doing and how visitors can help, and the network's weather and climate monitoring has more.
Sources
- National Park Service, Mid-Atlantic Inventory and Monitoring Network: "2022 Weather in Review: Booker T. Washington National Monument," using NOAA's nClimDiv data.
In these publicationsBooker T Washington National Monument
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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