The Southmont 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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Mostly sunny; warmer
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83° on Nov. 16, 1958, the hottest reading for this week of the year since 1893. Next is 81° in 1912.
Southmont’s center stands about 690 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 620 ft to 780 ft, a difference of 160 ft: gently rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Three Hat Mountain, about 1,220 ft, 10 miles northeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Cid 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.
Metavolcanic. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Granitic. Age: Late Mississippian to Permian, 265 to 325 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Slate, argillite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Metagabbro, metadiorite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic, 252 to 1,000 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Metadacite, metarhyolite, metavolcanic. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. 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. 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 Southmont reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of the Yadkin, the Pee Dee, the Great Pee Dee, Schooner Creek and the Waccamaw: about 260 river miles.
Lake on the way: Lake Tillery.
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 Southmont; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Southmont has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 88° in July; winter nights fall to about 29° in January. About 44 inches of rain fall in a normal year, with about 2 inches of snow.
On November 14 Southmont normally reaches 61° and falls to 37°. The record high is 80°, in 2007; the record low 15°, in 1920. The most rain on this date, 1.67 in, fell in 1940.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1893 at Salisbury, 12 miles west. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
