Geography. Geographical position and climate of the USA

Geography. Geographical position and climate of the USA

The United states of America is the fourth largest country in the world in both area and population. The total area of the USA is about 9.6 million square kilometers. The population of the USA is about 256 million people.

The USA occupies the central part of the North American continent. It borders on Canada in the north and Mexico in the south. It is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the east, by the Pacific Ocean in the west and by the Gulf of Mexico in the south.

The present territory of the USA consists of three separate parts. The USA proper and Alaska are situated in North America. Alaska borders the Pacific Ocean to the south, the Bering Strait to the west, and the Arctic Ocean to the north (territorial water border with Russia in the northwest). Alaska is the largest in area of the 50 states, and Texas, in the southern part of the country, is second in size. The Hawaii are situated in the central part of the Pacific Ocean. (The capital Washington, district Columbia)

Climate

The United States is mostly situated in tem­perate and subtropical zones. Alaska lies in the sub­arctic and arctic zones. The southern part of Flori­da and Hawaii are situated in the tropical zone.

Due to its large size and wide range of geographic features, the United States contains examples of nearly every global climate.

The northern part of the Pacific coast is characterized by a moderate climate of temperate zones with a cool summer and a rather warm winter without a permanent snow cover and an abundant rainfall on the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains (3000-6000 mm a year).

The southern part of the Pacific coast (Califor­nia) has a Mediterranean climate: a hot, cloudless and dry summer and a cool and rainy winter with the mean temperatures of 20-25 °C in summer and 5-10 °C in winter. The rainfall is rather small (400-600 mm a year).

The climate on the Atlantic coast is continental-marine with cool summers and rather warm winters with a permanent snow cover in mountainous re­gions. Further to the south the climate gets warm­er, with warmer winters and hotter summers, grad­ually passing into the monsoon (муссон) subtropical climate in the extreme south and Florida. The temperatures here are comparable to those on the Pacific coast of California, but the rainfall is heavier and occurs mostly in summer.

The highest tempera­ture is observed in the Death Valley (sometimes up to 56 °C).