Gauley River National Recreation AreaСтраница 11 из 18
Gauley River National Recreation Area in 2020: a warm, wet year
In 2020 the area around Gauley River National Recreation Area, in West Virginia, was very warm and much wetter than normal. The year ended as the 9th warmest and 8th wettest on record. Both annual average temperature and annual total precipitation have risen over the last century.
NPS photo.
Where the numbers come from
The Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network measures ecosystem "vital signs" in selected national parks in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, and weather and climate is one of them. This summary uses county-scale data averaged over the counties around the park, Fayette and Nicholas counties in West Virginia, for 1895 to 2020 (the period of record). Individual weather stations may differ from what is reported here. The data come from NOAA's National Climate Data Center.
The page also explains the difference between weather and climate. Weather is the short-term (minutes to months) changes in the atmosphere, what is happening outside right now. Climate is what one expects from long-term patterns over 30 years or more: climate is what you might expect, like a hot summer, and weather is what you get, like a warm rainy day.
Temperature
In total, 2020 was the 9th warmest year on record for the park's counties. Eight months were warmer than their long-term averages, and January, February and March ran well above them. The annual average was 53.5 °F, 2.0 °F above the long-term average.
| Month or year | Average temperature (°F) | Departure from long-term average (°F) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 37.1 | +6.2 |
| February | 38.5 | +5.5 |
| March | 48.0 | +6.6 |
| April | 48.3 | -3.0 |
| May | 58.0 | -2.2 |
| June | 66.2 | -1.1 |
| July | 74.1 | +3.1 |
| August | 71.2 | +1.4 |
| September | 63.3 | -0.9 |
| October | 56.0 | +2.5 |
| November | 47.3 | +4.8 |
| December | 34.0 | +0.5 |
| 2020 | 53.5 | +2.0 |
Departures show how 2020 differed from the averages for 1895 to 2019.
Precipitation
It was a very wet year: the 8th wettest on record for Fayette and Nicholas counties. In total, 58.4 inches of precipitation fell, over 10 inches more than the long-term average.
| Month or year | Total precipitation (in.) | Departure from long-term average (in.) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 3.7 | -0.1 |
| February | 6.4 | +3.2 |
| March | 4.1 | -0.2 |
| April | 7.3 | +3.4 |
| May | 6.1 | +1.6 |
| June | 7.0 | +2.2 |
| July | 4.2 | -1.3 |
| August | 6.5 | +2.0 |
| September | 3.1 | -0.3 |
| October | 3.0 | -0.2 |
| November | 2.9 | -0.4 |
| December | 4.1 | +0.5 |
| 2020 | 58.4 | +10.4 |
The long-term trend, 1895 to 2020
For Fayette and Nicholas counties, annual average temperature has risen by about 0.07 °F per decade and annual total precipitation by about 0.13 inches per decade since 1895.
Annual average temperature (°F) and annual total precipitation (in.), 1895 to 2020, Fayette and Nicholas counties. Dashed lines show linear estimates of change. Chart from the National Park Service's page.
National Park Service scientists have also looked ahead. Models estimate that by 2100 the park's annual average temperature will rise by 2.9 to 8.8 °F, from the best-case to the worst-case scenario, and annual total precipitation by 6 to 11 percent; the page points to a 2018 paper by Gonzalez and colleagues for details.
Sources
- National Park Service, Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network, "2020 Weather In Review: Gauley River National Recreation Area" (https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/2020-weather-in-review-gauley-river-national-recreation-area.htm), published as a work of the United States government; the page's seasonal ranking charts and seasonal statements are left out because they do not agree with its monthly tables; rewritten in hubnx's own words.