Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Report of the Secretary of Agriculture in relation to the forests, rivers, and mountains of the southern Appalachian region

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  • 150 SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. the western slope of the Appalachians in considerably less than on the summits and along the eastern and southern flanks of the mountains, though it generally averages from 40 to 50 inches annually on the lower levels. As previously stated, the rainfall in the southern Appalachian region is occasionally torrential in character. The mountain ranges of western North Carolina and northern Georgia are so situated with respect to the rain- bearing winds as to greatly facilitate the rapid condensation of moisture, whether borne by the winds from the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. The indraft of warm, moist air from these great storehouses of moisture and the subsequent cooling as it is forced up the mountain sides give downpours of rain seldom experienced in the adjacent lowlands. On September 22, 1898, 7.57 inches of rain fell within 24 hours at Linville, 6 inches at Lenoir, 8.30 inches at Paterson, 6.75 inches at Marion, and 5.75 inches at Flat Rock. During August, 1901, the total rainfall for the month at Flat Rock was 30 inches; at Highlands, 30 inches; at Hendersonville, 26 inches; at Horse Cove, 26 inches; at Paterson, 24 inches, and at Marion, 21 inches. The precipitation for the year 1898 in western North Carolina at Highlands was 105.25 inches; at Horse Cove, 99.97 inches; Flat Rock, 78.39 inches, and Linville, 71.05 inches. These heavy downpours naturally cause destructive floods in the streams whose headwaters penetrate the mountain region. The severity of the floods is in a large measure mitigated by the fact that a large proportion of the rainfall is conserved by the forest covering, which abounds on the greater part of the area, and is thus prevented from reaching the streams quickly and in great volume, as would be the case were the mountain sides and the summits bare. It is a mistake to suppose the forests per se tend to increase precipitation. The precipitation would be equally heavy, forest or no forest. In the latter case it would run off more quickly and the regimen of the streams would be much more irregular than in the case of a forested area. Not much can be said of the relative humidity of the higher elevations, since no observations have been made. Along the western edge of the Piedmont Plateau the air is considerably drier than on the coastal plain. Tables of monthly mean relative humidity for Atlanta, Ga., Charlotte and Asheville, N. C, and Chattanooga and Knoxville,
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).