The Jefferson 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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3.88 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1957. The next wettest, 3.61 inches, fell in 2018.
Jefferson’s center stands about 760 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 710 ft to 940 ft, a difference of 230 ft: rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Price Mountain, about 1,220 ft, 12 miles west-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 37×. 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.
Gneiss. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 7 mi of the line.
Hornblende-gneiss, amphibolite. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 2 mi of the line.
Gneiss. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 0.6 mi of the line.
Gneiss, mica-schist, amphibolite. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 0.5 mi of the line.
Schist. Age: Precambrian to Paleozoic. About 0.4 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 Jefferson reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of the Middle Oconee, the Oconee and the Altamaha: about 380 river miles.
210 miles of the trip are on the Oconee.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Jefferson; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Jefferson has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 89° in July; winter nights fall to about 31° in January. About 52 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 Jefferson normally reaches 64° and falls to 39°. The record high is 79°, in 1985; the record low 22°, in 2019. The most rain on this date, 1.65 in, fell in 1983.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1957 at Commerce 4 NNW, 11 miles north-northeast, 130 ft higher. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
