148 THE CLIMATE OF ST. MAET's COCXTY 



St. Mary's County differ from what may be designated the normal for 

 its latitude. 



This region shares all the characteristics common to the coastal plain, 

 the most imjjortant of which, from a climatic point of view are, its 

 low, level surface, its unconsolidated soil of sand and clay, and its con- 

 siderable area of forests. The peculiarities of the drainage in this 

 region is remarkably well shown in St. Mary's County. The water-shed 

 lies very near the valley of the Patuxent Eiver the entire distance from 

 Charlotte Hall to Jarboesville, and farther south it continues quite 

 near the Chesapeake shore. Thus the rivers drain south and southwest 

 into the Potomac, at right angles to the general direction of drainage 

 in the Piedmont Plateau. The general elevation is somewhat over 100 

 feet, approaching 200 feet in places. Isolated elevations of over 100 

 feet are found even in the extreme southeast portion of the coimty, for 

 instance near Priendshi]!, which is a few miles from the shore, north of 

 Point Lookout. The level areas of 100 feet elevation are more num- 

 erous and broaden out toward the northwest portion of the county. All 

 the meteorological stations, except Charlotte Hall (167 feet) have an 

 elevation of less than 50 feet, that is they are situated on low ground at 

 the head of small bays. 



Climatic Data Available. 

 Although climatic records are available for seven stations in St. Mary's 

 County, the periods of observations are all short and much broken. The 

 earliest observations in the county were taken under the auspices of 

 the Smithsonian Institution, by Mr. T. G. Staggs, at Eidge, from 1856 

 to 1857. Other early records are those by Dr. Alexander McAVilliams, 

 at Leonardtown, from 1858 to 1859, and by Eev. James Stephenson, 

 at St. Mary's City, from 1859 to 1870. At Cherryfields (P. 0. Valley 

 Lee) observations were taken by Col. J. Edwin Coad for a period of 

 five years, from 1893 to 1899. The rainfall records for St. Inigoes 

 taken by Mr. James F. EUicott, from 1871 to 1879, must be used with 

 caution. For all of these stations only the mean temperatures and the 

 monthly precipitation are available. The only fairly complete record 



