Unincorporated community in West Virginia and driest US location east of Mississippi River Unincorporated community in West Virginia, United States
| Upper Tract | |
|---|---|
| Unincorporated community | |
 Corn fields with Upper Tract in the back | |
  Upper TractLocation within the state of West VirginiaShow map of West Virginia Upper TractUpper Tract (the United States)Show map of the United States | |
| Coordinates: 38°47′14″N 79°16′57″W / 38.78722°N 79.28250°W / 38.78722; -79.28250 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | West Virginia |
| County | Pendleton |
| Elevation | 1,558 ft (475 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| GNIS feature ID | 1555861 |
Upper Tract is an unincorporated community in Pendleton County, West Virginia, United States.
Description
The community lies along U.S. Highway 220 at the confluence of Reeds Creek and the South Branch Potomac River. It has a post office with a ZIP Code of 26866.
The community took its name from a nearby 18th-century pioneer settlement. Two local structures — the Cunningham-Hevener House and the Pendleton County Poor Farm — are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Upper Tract is notable as one of the driest places in the United States east of the Mississippi River, owing to an isolated rain shadow from Spruce Knob to the west. Between 1899 and 1930 Upper Tract averaged only 28.82 inches or 732.0 millimetres of precipitation, and in the extreme drought year of 1930 it received a remarkably low 9.50 inches or 241.3 millimetres for the entire year — the lowest annual precipitation ever recorded in the US east of the Mississippi, and indeed less than fell during that year in such dry cities as Tucson and San Diego.
See also
References
- ^ "Upper Tract". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- Kenny, Hamill (1945). West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains. Piedmont, WV: The Place Name Press. p. 641.
- "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- Leffler, Robert J. (November 1977). "A Distinct Precipitation Shadow in the Valley of the South Branch Potomac River, West Virginia" (PDF). National Weather Digest. pp. 21–24.
- "Record Minimum Annual Precipitation by State" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 6, 2021.
External links
Media related to Upper Tract, West Virginia at Wikimedia Commons
| Municipalities and communities of Pendleton County, West Virginia, United States | ||
|---|---|---|
| County seat: Franklin | ||
| Town |  | |
| CDP | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
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