Climate
Climate is a major determinate of the environment although its influence is regional and long term rather than specific to the Watershed. Temperatures and precipitation determined what plants will grow there as well as the amount of water the Watershed can provide to the City of Newark. They also allow for the fact that skiing can take place in the Watershed and past climates, especially glacial eras, have determined much of the Watersheds topography and soil make-up.
The Pequannock Watershed, which has a relatively high elevation and inland location away from either the Delaware or Hudson River Valleys, has a climate more like that found in New York State to the north than the climate in the rest of northern New Jersey, and it is certainly distinct from the climate of Newark itself. The Watershed had an average of sixty more days a year with freezing temperature than Newark and an average of only 2.6 days a year when the temperature rises above 90 degrees.
Average precipitation in the Watershed is 48.8 inches per year and the average snowfall is 40 inches per year. There is at least one inch of snow on the ground in the Watershed for an average of 62 days a year.
Local winds within the Watershed tend to follow the ridges lines. However, regionally prevailing winds tend to be from the northwest in winter and summer, from the southwest in spring, and from the southeast in the fall.
Local differences in climate within the Watershed (microclimates) are probably small and mostly caused by nearness to lakes, tree cover or the lack thereof, depressions, which may experience colder temperatures locally, and orientation.
Soils
Soil characteristics have a major influence on decisions relating to the future use of the Pequannock Watershed. By evaluating soil depth, drainage ability, and capacity to support varying types of vegetation, a preliminary determination can be made of the best locations for different types and intensities of development that may safely occur within the Watershed.
Nearly all of the soils in the Watershed are the product of either alleviation (deposited by rivers and streams) or glaciations. The alluvial soils are all recent, deposited since the glacier receded, and are found exclusively along stream channels. They tend to be deep soils with good filtering characteristics. As such, they can support various types of development in the limited areas which are not actually in flood plains, where no development can take place because of possible flooding.
The soil derived from glacial deposits is clayey and full of rocks ranging from pebbles to boulders. There are also many rock outcrops and talus slopes (areas of rock slides resulting form freezing and thawing) throughout the area of glacial deposits. The clay soils in the Watershed, particularly those in the steeper slopes, drain poorly and thus promote standing water and ponding. Because they hold water rather than allowing it to pass through, they are subject to substantial shrinking and swelling as they dry out and become saturated again and provide an inadequate filter for any polluted water that may be passing through them. They are not, therefore, suitable for septic tank systems. For the same reason, these reasons, these soils on any slope greater than 15% are unstable without adequate erosion control, such as thick vegetation of leaf litter, and such areas will be conserved form development.
Generally, in the areas of the Watershed characterized by more rolling terrain, the glacial deposits are deeper and mixed with more silt and loam due to the sandstone and shale bedrock which underlies most of the deep deposits. Although these soils are also clayed and stony, the presence of silt and loam allows them to drain better and they are less subject to shrinking and swelling and are not as subject to erosion as soils on steeper slopes.