100 



RESOURCES OF SOUTHERN ALABAMA. 



TABLE 21. 

 Water-power statistics of southern Alabama, 1916. 



Climate. 



The average or mean temperature ranges from about 

 65 F. (supposed to be the most comfortable temperature 

 for civilized mankind) at the inland edge of our area to 

 68 on the coast; the mean January temperature from 47 

 to 52 ; July temperature from 80 to 81 ; the average length 

 of growing season from about 240 to 280 days ; and the an- 

 nual rainfall from about 48 inches in Wilcox County to 63 

 on the coast. The proportion of the rain that falls in the 

 warmer months increases southward and eastward. At 

 Pushmataha, in Choctaw County, 31.8 per cent of the rain 

 falls in the four warmest months (June to September), and 

 45.8 per cent in the six warmest months (May to October), 

 and that for April to June exceeds that for August to Octo- 

 ber by about 5 inches. At Mobile the early and late sum- 

 mer rain are just about equal, and 40 per cent of the total 

 comes in the four warmest months, and 51.6 per cent in the 

 six warmest months. At Eufaula, near the northeastern 

 corner of the area under consideration, the four and six 

 months' percentages are just about intermediate between 

 those for Pushmataha and Mobile, and the late summer ex- 

 cess over early summer is about half an inch. This differ- 

 ence in seasonal distribution of rainfall, concurrent with 

 the increase in the total amount toward the coast, must be 

 one of the chief causes of the differences in soil fertility that 

 have been mentioned, for the warm rains of late summer, 

 which presumably have not varied much from one decade 



