The Cataula plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
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Partly cloudy; warmer
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3.54 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1891. The next wettest, 3.24 inches, fell in 2006.
Cataula’s center stands about 710 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 580 ft to 740 ft, a difference of 160 ft: gently rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Dowdell Knob, about 1,420 ft, 15 miles north-northeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Biotite Gneiss/ Amphibolite (biotite-gneiss, amphibolite), from the Precambrian to Paleozoic.
The section below crosses 10 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 23×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Biotite-gneiss. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 9 mi of the line.
Gneiss. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 4 mi of the line.
Mica-schist, gneiss. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 2 mi of the line.
Biotite-gneiss, amphibolite. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 2 mi of the line.
Mylonite. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 1 mi of the line.
Mica-schist. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 1 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 4 smaller units along the line are not listed.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in Cataula reaches the Gulf of America by way of Whetstone Branch, Mulberry Creek, the Chattahoochee and the Apalachicola: about 300 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Walter F George Reservoir and Bartletts Ferry Lake.
110 miles of the trip are on the Apalachicola.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Cataula; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Cataula has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 93° in July; winter nights fall to about 38° in January. About 49 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 Cataula normally reaches 69° and falls to 46°. The record high is 84°, in 1924; the record low 20°, in 1907. The most rain on this date, 1.85 in, fell in 1957.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1891 from the Columbus Area threaded record (Columbus Metropolitan Airport, 11 miles south-southwest, 320 ft lower). NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
