THE CLIMATE OF ST. MARY'S COUNTY 



BY 

 C. F. VON HERRMANN 



Introductory. 

 The extreme southern boundary of Maryland is located at the mouth 

 of the Potomac River, near the Virginia shore, in latitude 37° 53' X. 

 Point Lookout, at the southern extremity of St. Mary's, is only a few 

 miles farther north, and the region whose climate is to be discussed in 

 this chapter, thus forms one of the most southern counties of Maryland. 

 As the county is distant from the mountains, its surface level, and its 

 coast line deeply indented by rivers and tidal estuaries, it is apparent 

 that the factors immediately controlling the character of its climate 

 are its relatively low latitude (38° 2' to 38° 31' N.) and the proximity of 

 large bodies of water. The mitigating influence of water on climate 

 has been sufficiently discussed in the chapter on the climate of 

 Calvert County to which the reader is referred. In that sketch it was 

 shown that the waters of the Bay and Atlantic Ocean have much less 

 influence than might be expected on account of the prevailing off-shore 

 winds. It was also shown that as the cold Labrador current flows near 

 the Atlantic coast the waters bathing the shores of Maryland and the 

 interior waters of the Bay are below the temperature normal to the 

 latitude. The popular belief that the Gulf Stream itself has an influence 

 on the climate of Maryland is quite erroneous. The temperature of 

 St. Mary's County will probably be found to be slightly higher than 

 that of its northern neighbor, Calvert County, but its northwest portion, 

 which is farthest removed from the Bay will have a large range of 

 extremes. In the present study of the various meteorological elements 

 the inquiry should be kept in mind to what extent does the climate of 



