Chapter 16: The North Pacific Coast

Like the Pacific Northwest region, Mobile is wet with a high moisture content in the air. While I have discussed this in previous posts, I have found more scientific information as to why exactly it is so wet in Mobile. The influence of the Gulf of Mexico is possibly the second-most important factor in determining Alabama's climate patterns. In addition to serving as a source of moisture, this large body of warm water stores energy absorbed from the Sun throughout the year, which helps moderate temperature patterns along the coast. This influence on local temperature patterns is commonly known as the Maritime Effect. In summer, a large mass of warm, moist air, known as a maritime tropical air mass, moves northward from the Gulf of Mexico and dominates daily weather patterns in Alabama. In autumn, the polar jet stream begins to migrate southward and directs cool, dry air masses, known as Continental Polar air masses, into the state. The leading edge of the continental polar air mass is referred to as a cold front, and these fronts move across Alabama at a rate of about one per week until spring, when the polar jet stream begins to migrate northward. When a cold front moves across Alabama, the cold, dry air forces the warm, moist air of the Maritime Tropical air mass upward into the atmosphere. The moisture in the warm air soon condenses and returns to the surface as precipitation. As the cold front passes overhead, the cold, dry air mass moves into the region and dominates daily weather patterns for several days. Cold, sunny weather usually prevails until the next cold front moves into the region. The precipitation that normally occurs when the cold front passes is usually in the form of intense rainfall.

Mentioned in the chapter, The North Pacific Coast region produces the most pulp for paper products outside of the southeast. Mobile is no stranger to paper product production itself, containing many paper mills. The southwestern area of Alabama's Coastal Plain, encompassing Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia, and Monroe counties, is the heart of the state's timber industry. Pine plantations cover much of the rural land, producing timber for local pulp and paper mills and other wood-products industries. Wildlife management, hunting, and recreation associated with forests have become an important source of revenue for some land owners. International Paper and Kimberly-Clark both have paper mills in Mobile.

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　http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1396http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1283