The Albemarle 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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4.20 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1911. The next wettest, 4.00 inches, fell in 2009.
Albemarle’s center stands about 480 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 430 ft to 680 ft, a difference of 250 ft: rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Bald Mountain, about 980 ft, 14 miles north.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Floyd Church Formation; Metamudstone and Meta-Argillite (slate, argillite), from the Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old.
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 35×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Slate, argillite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 10 mi of the line.
Metasedimentary. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Metadacite, metarhyolite, metavolcanic. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Slate, argillite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Slate, argillite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 1 mi of the line.
Metadacite, metarhyolite, metavolcanic. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. 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 Albemarle reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of Poplin Creek, Long Creek, the Rocky, the Pee Dee, the Great Pee Dee, Schooner Creek and the Waccamaw: about 240 river miles.
150 miles of the trip are on the Great Pee Dee.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Albemarle; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Albemarle has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 89° in July; winter nights fall to about 31° in January. About 48 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 Albemarle normally reaches 62° and falls to 40°. The record high is 83°, in 1931; the record low 16°, in 1920. The most rain on this date, 1.97 in, fell in 1997.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1911 at Albemarle, 3 miles north, 130 ft higher. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
