Lake Norman Sunrise 2012

by Greg Reed

Title

Lake Norman Sunrise 2012

Artist

Greg Reed

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

Lake Norman Sunrise Dec 2012

Lake Norman

Lake Norman, created between 1959 and 1964[1] as part of the construction of the Cowans Ford Dam by Duke Energy, is the largest man-made body of fresh water in North Carolina.

Geography

Lake Norman is fed by the Catawba River, and drains into Mountain Island Lake to the south. It was named after former Duke Power president Norman Atwater Cocke. Lake Norman is sometimes referred to as the "inland sea" of North Carolina; it offers 520 miles (840 km) of shoreline and a surface area of more than 50 square miles (130 km2). Full pond at Lake Norman is 760 feet (230 m) above mean sea level. Interstate 77 and North Carolina Highway 150 cross Lake Norman at different points.[citation needed]

Hydroelectrical power

Lake Norman provides electricity to the Piedmont region of the Carolinas. It powers the generators at the hydroelectric station at Cowans Ford Dam, is used by the coal-fired Marshall Steam Station, and by McGuire Nuclear Station to cool the reactors whilst generating the steam that drives their turbines. The lake supplies water to Lincoln County, Catawba County, Iredell County, Mooresville, Charlotte, and other towns in Mecklenburg County, particularly Cornelius, Davidson and Huntersville.[citation needed]

Natural history
Climate

Lake Norman, as with most of the rest of North Carolina, has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa in the Koppen Climate Classification), featuring warm-to-hot summers and cold-to-mild winters. There is no “dry season” and rainfall is highly variable year-round. Lake Norman gets a mean annual precipitation of about 43.1 inches per year over an average of 75 precipitation days, with approximately 41.1 of those inches being comprised by rain and the other 2 inches being comprised by snow. Wind speeds are, on average, highest in February, while they are at their lowest in August.

Lake Norman borders four counties in North Carolina (Catawba, Iredell, Mecklenburg, and Lincoln) and is present in both the Southern Piedmont and Central Piedmont climate divisions. July is normally the warmest month in these two climate divisions, with an average daily maximum temperature of 90 °F (32.2 °C) and an average daily minimum of 70 °F (21.1 °C). January is normally the coolest month, with an average daily maximum of 51 °F (10.6 °C) and an average daily minimum of 29 °F (–1.7 °C). The all-time maximum of 107 °F (41.7 °C) was recorded in 1954, while the all-time minimum of -5 °F (–20.6 °C) was recorded in 1985.[2]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Norman

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January 2nd, 2023

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