The Gauley River. National Park Service.
The Park Service's Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network tracks "vital signs" of ecosystem health in national parks in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, and weather and climate are one of them. This summary covers 2023 at Gauley River National Recreation Area, using county-level data from NOAA's Climate at a Glance program averaged across the counties around the park, Fayette and Nicholas counties in West Virginia, with records from 1895 to 2023.
Weather or climate? Weather is what the atmosphere is doing over minutes to months: rain, snow or a warm sunny day. Climate is what to expect from patterns over 30 years or more. Climate is what you expect, like a hot summer; weather is what you get, like a warm, rainy day.
The year in brief
2023 was a very warm year around the park, the 10th warmest on record, with precipitation close to normal, ranking as the 52nd driest. Over the long term, both average temperature and total precipitation have risen, by about 0.1°F and 0.14 inches per decade.
Temperature
Winter and fall were especially warm. Eight months were warmer than normal, with January and February each at least 7.9°F above their long-term averages.
| Month | Average (°F) | Compared with 1895–2022 average (°F) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 38.8 | +7.9 |
| February | 41.9 | +8.8 |
| March | 42.8 | +1.2 |
| April | 54.2 | +2.9 |
| May | 58.4 | −1.8 |
| June | 63.9 | −3.5 |
| July | 71.5 | +0.6 |
| August | 69.5 | −0.3 |
| September | 64.6 | +0.3 |
| October | 55.3 | +1.8 |
| November | 42.5 | 0.0 |
| December | 39.0 | +5.4 |
| Year | 53.5 | +1.9 |
Precipitation
Total precipitation was 46.33 inches, almost 2 inches below the long-term average. Eight months were drier than normal, but summer was very wet, with July alone 2.36 inches above average.
| Month | Total (in.) | Compared with 1895–2022 average (in.) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 3.64 | −0.12 |
| February | 4.55 | +1.21 |
| March | 2.52 | −1.73 |
| April | 3.42 | −0.54 |
| May | 4.46 | −0.09 |
| June | 2.78 | −2.06 |
| July | 7.88 | +2.36 |
| August | 5.29 | +0.75 |
| September | 3.79 | +0.36 |
| October | 2.20 | −1.00 |
| November | 2.36 | −0.90 |
| December | 3.44 | −0.12 |
| Year | 46.33 | −1.90 |
Long-term trends and the future
Annual average temperature and annual total precipitation for the counties around the park since 1895. Dashed lines show the linear trends. National Park Service.
Since 1895, annual average temperature in the two counties has risen about 0.1°F per decade, and annual precipitation about 0.14 inches per decade. Park Service scientists project that by 2100 the park's average temperature will rise 2.9 to 8.8°F, from the best-case to the worst-case scenario, and annual precipitation will increase 6 to 11%.
Rapid climate change is challenging national parks in new ways: wildlife migrations shift, more destructive storms threaten cultural resources and facilities, and habitats are disrupted. The Park Service's climate change website explains the effects and what the agency and the public can do.
Sources
- National Park Service, Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network, "2023 Weather in Review: Gauley River National Recreation Area." https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/2023-weather-in-review-gauley-river-national-recreation-area.htm
- Data: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, nClimDiv dataset (version v1.0.0-20240105), via Climate at a Glance, https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/
- Climate projections: Gonzalez and others (2018), https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aade09
- NPS climate change: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/index.htm
In these publicationsGauley River National Recreation Area
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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