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The Refugio County Area
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| GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Refugio County is located on the Texas coast adjacent to Mission, Copano, and Aransas bays. Land in Refugio County is mostly used for agriculture and ranching, and limited urban development is centered around the towns of Refugio, Woodsboro, Bayside, Tivoli, and Austwell. Also within the county are two important rivers for the area: the Mission and Aransas. These rivers drain in to the Mission and Copano bays, respectively. However, the contour of the land within the county is gently sloping, with only a 300 ft change in elevation from the bays to the western county line. |
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LAND USE: There are three broad categories that classify all lands within Refugio County: Uplands, Transistional Lands, and Wetlands. Uplands include all developed lands, woodlands, cultivated lands, etc. Transitional Lands are defined as those areas which are not utilized by humans, are not wetlands, and classified by broad categorizations that include open water areas. Wetlands include all lands that can be classified in this area as marine, estuarine, and palustrine. |
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| CLIMATE: The area is characterized by a subhumid to semi-arid east coast subtropical climate with extreme variability in precipitation with generally high humidity. Major climatic influences are temperature, precipitation and evaporation, wind, and tropical storms or hurricanes. Temperatures range from an average winter minimum of 8.3-8.9oC to an average summer maximum range of 33.3-33.6oC. Rainfall averages about 85 cm a year. Winds in the area are dominated by two principal regimes: persisten, southeasterly winds from March through September and north-northeasterly winds from October through February. |
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TIDES/WATER REGIME: Tides and water flow in the area are influenced primarily by climatic conditions, freshwater inflow, and, to a lesser extent, tidal exchange. The Mission and Aransas rivers contribute the major freshwater inflows to the area, although there are many other man-made inflows from urban and rural areas, including stormwater runoff. Tides are less influenced by meterological conditions due to shallow bays and a relatively small tidal prism, and are more influenced by the predominant winds. Substantial exchange of water between the Gulf of Mexico and the Aransas Estuary, through Aransas Pass, occurs from wind-generated tides. |
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