Kings Mills
Kings Mills Geography & Climate
Geography
Kings Mills sits on the eastern side of the Little Miami River valley in Warren County, about forty kilometres north-east of Cincinnati.
The river gorge
The Little Miami River has cut a wooded valley some sixty metres deep into the surrounding till plain, which is why this stretch of country looks so different from the flat farmland a few kilometres either side. The valley is narrow, steep-sided and largely wooded, and it was that seclusion — and the water power — that made it a sensible place to manufacture explosives.
A scenic river
The Little Miami was among the first rivers designated under the American scenic rivers system, both nationally and by the state, and a corridor along it is protected. It is clean enough to support a good fishery and heavily used by canoeists in summer.
Glacial edge
The ice sheets reached just south of here, and the valley itself is partly a pre-glacial channel and partly meltwater-cut, which is why it is deeper than the modern river would explain.
Fossils
The Ordovician limestone and shale exposed in the valley sides is among the richest fossil-bearing rock in the world, and the road cuts around here are well known to collectors.
Why explosives went in valleys
A powder works needs separation, water and a railway, and a narrow wooded valley supplies all three: buildings can be spread along it with natural barriers between them, the river drives machinery and carries away waste, and a line can run along the floor. The same logic put similar works in river valleys across the eastern United States and Britain.
The park’s site
Kings Island occupies flat upland immediately west, on ground that was farmland until 1972.
Climate Patterns
Kings Mills has the climate of south-west Ohio, with the valley making a small difference.
Summer
June to August is hot and humid, with highs of 29 to 31°C and dew points that make it feel warmer. This matters here more than in most places, because a day at an amusement park is spent standing on asphalt in the open: the queue lines have limited shade, and the heat is the commonest reason people cut a day short.
Winter
December to February is cold: highs of 4 to 6°C and lows around minus 5°C, with around 55 centimetres of snow in an average year across several small falls. This is one of the milder parts of Ohio, being furthest south and well away from the lake.
The valley
Cold air drains into the Little Miami River valley on clear nights, so the village and the river bottom run several degrees colder than the upland where the park sits, and fog forms readily along the water in autumn and spring.
Severe weather
April to June is the peak, and south-west Ohio sees tornado warnings most springs. The park closes rides for lightning, which is frequent in summer afternoons.
Mildest corner of Ohio
South-west Ohio is the state’s warmest region, far enough south and far enough from Lake Erie to miss both the lake-effect snow and the worst of the cold. The growing season is several weeks longer than in the north-east of the state, which is why this was good farmland before it was a park.
Rainfall
Around 1,050 millimetres a year, fairly evenly spread.