WEATHER AND CLIMATE

The land

THE COUNTRY

The United States of America has an area of 3,615,122 square miles (9,4 mln square kilometers) almost all of which is on the American continent. Its overseas possessions are mainly small Pacific Islands (Guam, Samoa, etc.) plus Puerto Rico. There are 50 states and one Federal District, created as a site for the Federal Capital, Washington, and known as the District of Columbia.

The USA is considered to be the fourth largest country in the world. The 48 conterminous states extend from latitude 25° N to 50° N and longitude 125° W to 67° W. From New York in the East to San Francisco or Los Angeles in the West, i.e. from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast, you have to travel more than 4,500 km and leave behind four time zones. The other two states, Alaska and Hawaii, are situated respectively near the Arctic circle and in the tropical part of the Pacific Ocean (3,200 km from the mainland).

Thanks to these geographical extremes, different parts of the country range from moist rain forest areas to arid desert regions and bald mountain peaks. Mount McKinley in Alaska of 20,320 feet (6,194 meters) above sea level is the highest point in the USA, while part of Death Valley in California is 282 feet (89 meters) below sea level. The West is an extensive mountain area occupying approximately one-third of the United States and is a region of tremendous variety, which can be subdivided into various other areas. It consists of high ranges of the Cordillera parallel to the Pacific Coast culminating on its eastern border in the Rocky Mountains (a high, discontinuous chain of mountains with peaks of 13,000 and 14,000 feet), which, in their turn, stretch from mountainous Alaska down to Mexico. These mountains are rich in resources such as gold, lead and uranium.

Among high mountains at the western edge of the Cordillera — the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades and the Coastal Ranges — there are broad, fertile valleys and large plateau regions with canyons, cliffs and basins that contain many important metals, oil and natural gas.

The heart of the United States is a vast plain, which extends from Central Canada southwards to Mexico and from the Cordillera eastwards to the Appalachian Mountains. These interior plains, which rise gradually like a saucer to higher land on all sides, are divided into two major parts: the eastern portion is called the Central Plains and the western portion — the Great Plains, both of which have good soil.

The Appalachian Mountains — a chain of low, almost unbroken mountains — are extremely rich in coal and iron. These mountains are at the western edge of the Atlantic coastal plain, which is a long, gently rolling lowland area. These coastal plains are very flat: nowhere in Florida, for example, is more than 350 feet above sea level. The soil is very poor, except in the fertile southern part — the Cotton Belt of the Old South and the citrus country of Central Florida.

Hawaii is a chain of twenty islands, only seven of which are inhabited. The mountainous islands were formed by volcanic activity and there are still a number of active volcanoes.

WEATHER AND CLIMATE

Virtually every type of climate can be found somewhere in the United States — from arctic in Alaska to subtropical in Florida. The climate is not generally temperate, despite the latitude, because the tremendous size of the North American land mass heightens the extreme variations in temperature and precipitation, especially in the central regions (in Dakota temperatures have reached a maximum of 49 °C and a minimum of -60 °C).

Most of the country has a humid continental climate with hot summers and cold winters, while the lack of natural barriers either to the north or south allows cold, dry air to flow south from Canada and warm, humid air north from the Gulf of Mexico, giving rise to spectacular weather of every possible type in the Great Plains and Midwest. Summers are hot and very humid in this region and rainfall decreases to the west as a result of the rain shadow created by the West Pacific Range and the Sierra Nevada. The southwest portion of the Great Plains is the hottest and most arid region of the United States, with precipitation, mostly in the form of summer showers, averaging less than 250 mm a year.

The Pacific coast is almost rainless in the summer, although there is often fog. In winter there is frequent drizzle, but the climate remains generally warm and dry, especially in California.

The eastern part of the country is moderately rainy, with the precipitation fairly well distributed throughout the year. Summers tend to be extremely humid, especially along the coast of Texas and Florida.

NATURAL RESOURCES

The United States possesses vast non-fuel natural resources. The major resource is iron, three quarters of which comes from the Lake Superior region of the Great Lakes. Other basic metals and minerals mined on a large scale are zinc, copper, silver and phosphate rock (used for fertilizers). This wealth is distributed throughout most of the country, but Texas and the West (especially California) are the most important mineral-producing areas. Mining and quarrying account for only about 2 % of GNP.

The United States produces one quarter of the world's coal and one seventh of its petroleum, with sufficient coal reserves to last for hundreds of years. About half of the nation's electric power comes from coal-fired power stations, while natural and manufactured gas supply more than 33 % of the nation's power. The main gas fields are found near the main oil fields in Texas, Louisiana and Alaska. Nuclear power is also used in many places, using uranium mined in New Mexico and Wyoming, and produces over 10 % of the nation's energy output.

NATIONAL PARKS

No nation had ever done anything like that. Indeed, the very idea of the Federal Government's setting aside a portion of the public domain in the Rocky Mountains for use as a national "pleasuring ground" instead of for private exploitation by farmers, ranchers, or miners had a faintly improper ring, particularly in the "robber baron" era of unbridled private enterprise following the Civil War.

Nevertheless, depictions by artists and photographers, and the reports of official survey teams all pointed to one inevitable conclusion: that the Yellowstone region of the Rockies was of such exceptional beauty, such awe-aspiring dimensions, that this sublime gift of nature was a national treasure, far too valuable for private development, and that it must belong in perpetuity to the entire American people.

Accordingly, Congress passed and President Grant signed legislation establishing Yellowstone National Park, which over the years has been extended to take in 2.2 million acres of breathtakingly beautiful country in Idaho, Montana, and — mainly — Wyoming.

Yellowstone became the first reserve of its kind in the world and the model for US national park system.

Almost two decades passed before new national parks were created, and then, in 1890, Sequoia and Yosemite were both established in California. Subsequently, the pace quickened, particularly during Theodore Roosevelt's conservation-minded administration (1901-1909), when eight new national parks were established.

Today there are 38 national parks, most of them in the West, covering more than 14 million acres. Additional millions of acres have been set aside as national monuments, national recreation areas, national forests and national seashores. Within those sanctuaries millions of vacationing Americans each year enjoy days or weeks of relaxation amid nature's most impressive splendours — preserved by man for posterity.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 500