Geography of Atlanta
| Atlanta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Climate chart () | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|
4.2
52
34
|
4.7
57
38
|
4.8
65
44
|
3.4
72
52
|
3.7
80
60
|
4
86
68
|
5.3
89
71
|
3.9
88
71
|
4.5
82
65
|
3.4
73
54
|
4.1
64
44
|
3.9
54
36
|
| Average max. and min. temperatures in °F | |||||||||||
| Precipitation totals in inches | |||||||||||
| Metric conversion | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|
107
11
1
|
119
14
3
|
122
18
7
|
85
22
11
|
93
27
16
|
100
30
20
|
134
32
22
|
99
31
22
|
114
28
18
|
87
23
12
|
104
18
6
|
99
12
2
|
| Average max. and min. temperatures in °C | |||||||||||
| Precipitation totals in mm | |||||||||||
The Geography of Atlanta encompasses 132.4 square miles (342.9 km2), of which 131.7 square miles (341.1 km2) is land and 0.7 square miles (1.8 km2) is water. The city is situated among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, and at 1,050 feet (320 m) above mean sea level, Atlanta has one of the highest elevations among major cities east of the Mississippi River. Atlanta straddles the Eastern Continental Divide, such that rainwater that falls on the south and east side of the divide flows into the Atlantic Ocean, while rainwater on the north and west side of the divide flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Atlanta sits atop a ridge south of the Chattahoochee River, which is part of the ACF River Basin. Located at the far northwestern edge of the city, much of the river’s natural habitat is preserved, in part by the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.
The climate of Atlanta and its metropolitan area is humid subtropical, (Cfa) according to the Köppen classification, with four seasons including hot, humid summers and cool winters that are occasionally cold by the standards of the southern United States; the city and its immediate suburbs are located in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 8a, although the far northern suburbs begin to transition to Zone 7b.
Summers are long and consistently hot and humid. The daily average temperature in July is 80.2 °F (26.8 °C), with temperatures occasionally exceeding 100 °F or 37.8 °C, and slight breezes, and typically a 20–40% chance of afternoon thunderstorms. During the summer afternoon thunderstorms, temperatures may suddenly drop below 85 °F or 29.4 °C with locally heavy rainfall.
January averages 43.3 °F or 6.3 °C, with temperatures in the suburbs slightly cooler. Warm, maritime air can bring springlike conditions while strong Arctic air masses can push lows to between 20 and 10 °F (−6.7 and −12.2 °C). Snow may not occur in every season in the city and inner suburbs but does every season in the northern metro. When snow falls it is almost always during the period of December through March: there have occurred only three measurable falls outside these months in the past ninety years, the largest being 1.0 inch or 0.025 metres on November 11, 1968.
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