Richmond National Battlefield Park's Weather in 2023: Fourth Warmest on Record

A cannon at Richmond National Battlefield Park. 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 uses county-scale data averaged over the counties around the park — Caroline, Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico, Virginia — for the whole record, 1895–2023, 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 sun. Climate is what you expect from long-term patterns over 30 years or more. An easy way to remember it: climate is what you expect, like a hot summer; weather is what you get, like a warm, rainy day.

2023 at a glance

Much warmer than average, with precipitation just below normal: the fourth-warmest year on record, since 1895.

Temperature

Every season except spring was warmer than normal, and nine months were above average. January and February each ran more than 7°F above their long-term averages.

2023 annual and seasonal temperature rankings for the park's counties; the top of the scale is the warmest on record since 1895, the bottom the coldest. Winter is January–March, spring April–June, summer July–September, autumn October–December. NPS figure.

Precipitation

40.7 inches fell, almost 3 inches below the long-term average — the 47th driest year on record, just below normal. December was the wettest month, at 7.24 inches; March and October were the driest, at 1.38 inches each.

2023 annual and seasonal precipitation rankings for the park's counties; the top of the scale is the wettest on record since 1895, the bottom the driest. NPS figure.

Long-term trends

Since 1895, annual average temperature around the park has risen about 0.1°F per decade, and annual total precipitation about 0.35 inches per decade.

Annual average temperature and total precipitation for the park's counties, 1895–2023; dashed lines show the linear trends. NPS figure.

Park Service scientists have also projected the future. By 2100, models estimate the park's annual average temperature will rise 2.7–8.5°F, from the best-case to the worst-case scenario, and annual precipitation 8–13% (Gonzalez and others, 2018).

Climate change in the parks

Rapid climate change challenges national parks in ways never seen before: wildlife migrations are altered, increasingly destructive storms threaten cultural resources and park facilities, and habitat is disrupted. The Park Service's climate change site explains how climate change is affecting the parks, what the Service is doing, and how you can help; see also the network's weather and climate monitoring.

Sources

Based on "2023 Weather in Review: Richmond National Battlefield Park," Mid-Atlantic Inventory and Monitoring Network, National Park Service, with data from NOAA's NClimDiv dataset (version v1.0.0-20240105); a work of the United States government in the public domain. The source once refers to the park's three counties; this page follows its list of four.