The Cornelia 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.
3.64 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1919. The next wettest, 3.45 inches, fell in 2009.
Cornelia’s center stands about 1,500 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 1,030 ft to 1,680 ft, a difference of 650 ft: hilly country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Yonah Mountain, about 3,160 ft, 13 miles northwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Biotitic Gneiss / Mica Schist/ Amphibolite (amphibolite, biotite-gneiss, mica-schist), from the Precambrian to Paleozoic.
The section below crosses 7 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 16×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Amphibolite, biotite-gneiss, mica-schist. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 14 mi of the line.
Hornblende-gneiss, amphibolite. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 4 mi of the line.
Gneiss. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 3 mi of the line.
Metagraywacke, mica-schist. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 2 mi of the line.
Gneiss. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 0.9 mi of the line.
Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 0.8 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 1 smaller unit 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 Cornelia reaches the Gulf of America by way of South Fork Mud Creek, Mud Creek, the Chattahoochee and the Apalachicola: about 510 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Walter F George Reservoir, Woodmen Youth Camp Lake, West Point Lake and Bartletts Ferry Lake.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Cornelia; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Cornelia has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 86° in July; winter nights fall to about 30° in January. About 59 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 Cornelia normally reaches 61° and falls to 39°. The record high is 78°, in 1931; the record low 19°, in 1982. The most rain on this date, 1.21 in, fell in 1962.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1919 at Cornelia, here. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.