Table 1. Temperature and Precipitation Averages for Selected Locations in Albania
| Average Temperatures* | Annual | |||||
| Elevation | Coldest | Warmest | precipitation | |||
| Place | Location | (in feet) | Annual | month | month | (in inches) |
| Shkoder | Northern coastal lowlands | 50 | 59 | 40 | 78 | 80 |
| Durres | Central coastal lowlands | Sea level | 61 | 47 | 77 | 38 |
| Vlore | Southern coastal lowlands | Sea level | 62 | 48 | 77 | 39 |
| Sarande | Albanian Riviera | Sea level | 63 | — | — | 55 |
| Tirana | Mid-Albania at base of central uplands | 360 | 58 | 42 | 76 | 49 |
| Puke | North-central uplands | 2,850 | 51 | 34 | 70 | 72 |
| Kruje | Central uplands | 2,000 | 55 | 39 | 71 | 67 |
| Korce | Eastern highlands | 2,850 | 51 | — | — | 30 |
| * In degrees Fahrenheit. | ||||||
| Source: Adapted from Vjetari Statistikor i R. P. Sh., 1967-1968. Tirana, , pp. 18-19; and Great Britain, Admiralty, Naval Intelligence Division, Albania, London, 1945, p. 93. | ||||||
When the continental system is weak, Mediterranean winds drop their moisture farther inland. When there is a dominant continental air mass, it spills cold air onto the lowland areas. This occurs most frequently in the winter season. Since the season's lower temperatures damage olive trees and citrus fruits, their groves and orchards are restricted to sheltered places with southern and western exposures, even in areas that have seemingly high average winter temperatures.
Lowland rainfall averages from forty to nearly sixty inches annually, increasing between those extremes from south to north. Nearly 95 percent of the rain falls during the rainy season.
Rainfall in the upland mountain ranges is higher. Adequate records are not available, and estimates vary widely, but annual averages are probably about 70 inches and are as high as 100 inches in some northern areas. The seasonal variation is not quite as great as in the coastal area, with the most nearly even distribution in the north, largely because of summer thunderstorms.
The higher inland mountains receive less precipitation than the intermediate uplands. Terrain differences cause wide local variations, but the seasonal distribution is the most consistent of any area. In the northern mountains, for example, the months that usually have the highest averages are November and June.
DRAINAGE
All but a very small portion of the precipitation drains through the rivers to the coastline without leaving the country. With the exception of a few insignificant trickles, only one small stream in the northern part of the country escapes Albania. In the south an even smaller rivulet drains into Greece. As the divide is on the eastern side of the borders with Yugoslavia and Greece, however, a considerable amount of water from those countries drains through Albania. A quite extensive portion of the White Drin River basin is in the Kosovo area across the northeastern Yugoslav border. The three lakes shared with Yugoslavia and Greece, as well as all the streams that flow into them, drain into the Drin River. The watershed divide in the south also dips nearly forty miles into Greece at one point. Several tributaries of the Vijose River rise in that area (see fig. 4).