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Note: Alaska and Hawaii are shown out of
position for reference only and are not to scale.
Blank
Florida State Outline Map
Florida is situated mostly on a large peninsula
between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and
the Straits of Florida.
It extends to the northwest into a panhandle,
extending along the northern Gulf of Mexico. It is
bordered on the north by the states of
Georgia and
Alabama, and on the west, at
the end of the panhandle, by Alabama. It is near the
countries of the Caribbean,
particularly the Bahamas and
Cuba. Florida's extensive coast
line made it a perceived target during World War II,
so the government built airstrips all around the
state. Today approximately 400 airports are still in
service due to the coastal geography of the state.
According to the National Drug Intelligence Center,
Florida has 131 public airports, and more than 700
private airports, airstrips, heliports, and seaplane
bases. Florida is one of the largest states east of
the Mississippi. Only Alaska
and Michigan are larger in
water area.
The Florida
peninsula is a porous plateau of karst
limestone sitting atop bedrock.
Extended systems of underwater caves,
sinkholes and springs are found throughout the state and
supply most of the water used by residents. The limestone is
topped with sandy soils deposited as ancient
beaches over millions of years as
global sea levels rose and fell. During the last
Ice Age, lower sea levels and a drier
climate revealed a much wider peninsula, largely
desert. At the southern end of the
peninsula, the Everglades are in
fact an enormously wide, very slow-flowing river.
At 345 feet
(105 m) above mean sea level,
Britton Hill is the highest point in Florida and the lowest
highpoint of any U.S. state. Contrary to popular belief,
however, Florida is not entirely "flat." Some places, such
as Clearwater, feature
vistas that rise 50 to 100 feet (15 – 30 m) above the water.
Much of the interior of Florida, typically 25 miles (40 km)
or more away from the coastline, features hills with
elevations ranging from 100 to 250 feet (30 – 76 m) in many
locations. Lake County holds the highest point of peninsular
Florida, Sugarloaf
Mountain, at 312 feet (95 m).
Areas under
control of the National
Park Service include:
-
Big Cypress
National Preserve, near
Lake Okeechobee
-
Biscayne National Park,
in Miami-Dade County
south of Miami
-
Canaveral
National Seashore, near
Titusville
-
Castillo de San Marcos
National Monument, in
St. Augustine
-
De Soto National
Memorial, in Bradenton
-
Dry Tortugas
National Park, at Key
West
-
Everglades National
Park in Southern Florida
-
Fort Caroline
National Memorial, at Jacksonville
-
Fort Matanzas
National Monument, in St. Augustine
-
Gulf Islands
National Seashore, near
Gulf Breeze
-
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, in
Jacksonville
Areas under
the control of the USDA
United States Forest
Service include:
Boundaries
The state
line begins in the Atlantic Ocean, traveling west, south,
and north up the thalweg of the
Saint Mary's
River. At the origin of that river, it then follows a
straight line nearly due west and slightly north, to the
point where the confluence
of the Flint River
(from Georgia) and the
Chattahoochee River (down the Alabama/Georgia line) used
to form Florida's Apalachicola River. (Since Woodruff Dam
was built, this point has been under Lake Seminole.) The
border with Georgia continues north through the lake for a
short distance up the former thalweg of the Chattahoochee,
then with Alabama runs due west along
latitude 31°N to the Perdido
River, then south along its thalweg to the Gulf via
Perdido Bay. Florida is mostly at sea level.
Climate
The climate
of Florida is tempered somewhat by its proximity to water.
Most of the state has a humid subtropical climate, except
for the southern part below Lake Okeechobee which has a true
tropical climate. Cold fronts can occasionally bring high
winds and cool to cold temperatures to the entire state
during late fall and winter. One such front swept through
the peninsula on November 25,
1996, bringing cold temperatures and
winds up to 95 miles per hour (150 km/h), knocking out power
to thousands and damaging mobile homes. The seasons in
Florida are actually determined more by
precipitation
than by temperature with mild to cool, relatively dry
winters and autumns (the dry season) and hot, wet
springs and summers (the wet
season). The Gulf Stream has a
moderating effect on the climate, and although much of
Florida commonly sees a high summer temperature over 90
degrees Fahrenheit (32 °C), the
mercury seldom exceeds 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 °C). The
hottest temperature ever recorded in the state was 109 °F
(43 °C), set on June 29,
1931 in
Monticello. The coldest was – 2 °F (−19 °C), on
February 13, 1899,
just 25 miles (40 km) away, in Tallahassee. Mean high
temperatures for late July are primarily in the low 90s
Fahrenheit (32 – 35 °C). Mean low temperatures for late
January range from the low 40s Fahrenheit (4 – 7 °C) in
northern Florida to the mid-50s (≈13 °C) in southern
Florida.
The Florida
Keys, being surrounded by water, have a more tropical
climate, with lesser variability in temperatures. At
Key West, temperatures
rarely exceed 90 °F in the summer or fall below 60 °F in the
winter, and frost has never been reported in the Keys.
Florida's
nickname is the "Sunshine State", but severe weather is a
common occurrence in the state. Central Florida is known as
the lightning capital of the United
States, as it experiences more lightning strikes than
anywhere else in the country. Florida has the highest
average precipitation of any state, in large part because
afternoon thunderstorms are
common in most of the state from late spring until early
autumn. A fair day may be interrupted with a storm, only to
return to sunshine. These thunderstorms, caused by
collisions between airflow from the Gulf of Mexico and
airflow from the Atlantic Ocean, pop up in the early
afternoon and can bring heavy downpours, high winds, and
sometimes tornadoes. Florida leads
the United States in tornadoes per square mile, but these
tornadoes do not typically reach the intensity of those in
the Midwest and
Great Plains.
Hail often accompanies the most severe thunderstorms.
Snow in Florida
is a rare occurrence. During the
Great Blizzard of 1899,
Florida experienced blizzard
conditions. During that time, the Tampa
Bay area had "gulf-effect" snow,
similar to lake-effect snow.
The Great Blizzard of 1899 is the only time the temperature
in the state is known to have fallen below 0 degrees
Fahrenheit (−18 °C). The most widespread snowfall in Florida
history happened in January 19th 1977, when snow fell over
much of the state in different times of the month, as far
south as Homestead. Snow
flurries fell on
Miami Beach for the only
time in recorded history. 1982's "Cold
Sunday," which saw freezing conditions throughout much
of the country, ruined that year's orange crops. In 1989, a
severe hard freeze created lots of ice and also caused minor
flurries in sections of the state and resulted in rolling
blackouts from power failures caused by massive demands on
the power grid for heating. A hard freeze in 2003 brought
"ocean-effect" snow flurries to the Atlantic coast as far
south as Cape Canaveral.
The
1993 Superstorm
brought blizzard conditions to the panhandle, while heavy
rain and tornadoes beset the peninsula. The storm is
believed to have been similar in composition to a
hurricane, and even brought
storm surges of six feet or more
to regions of the Gulf coast.
Although
some storms have formed out of season,
tropical cyclones pose a
severe threat during hurricane season, which lasts from
June 1 to
November 30. Florida is the most hurricane-prone US
state, with subtropical or tropical water on three sides and
a lengthy coastline. It is rare for a hurricane season to
pass without any impact in the state by at least a tropical
storm. August to October is the most likely period for a
hurricane in Florida.
Florida saw
a slew of destruction in 2004, when it was hit by a record
four hurricanes. Hurricanes
Charley (August 13),
Frances (September
4 – 5), Ivan (September
16), and Jeanne (September
25 – 26) cumulatively cost the state's economy US$42
billion. In 2005, Hurricane
Dennis (July 10) became the fifth
storm to strike Florida within eleven months. Later,
Hurricane Katrina (August
25) passed through
South Florida
and Hurricane Rita (September
20) swept through the Florida
Keys. Hurricane Wilma
made landfall in Florida in the early morning of
October 24 as a
Category 3
hurricane, with the storm's eye hitting near
Cape Romano, just south of
Marco Island, according
to the National
Hurricane Center.
Florida was
the site of the second costliest weather disaster in U.S.
history, Hurricane Andrew,
which caused more than US$25
billion in damage when it struck on
August 24, 1992. In a long list of
other infamous hurricane strikes are the
1926 Great Miami Hurricane,
the 1928 Okeechobee
Hurricane, the
Labor Day Hurricane of 1935,
Hurricane Donna in 1960, and
Hurricane Opal in 1995.
Fauna
Florida is
host to many types of wildlife including:
-
Marine
Mammals : Bottlenose Dolphin, Pilot Whale, Northern
Right Whale, Manatee
-
Reptiles : Alligator, Crocodile, Eastern Diamondback and
Pygmy Rattlesnakes, Gopher Tortoise, Green & Leatherback
Sea Turtles, Indigo Snake
-
Mammals : Panther, Whitetail Deer, Key Deer, Bobcats,
Southern Black Bear, Armadillos
-
Birds :
Bald Eagle, Crested Caracara, Snail Kite, Osprey,
Pelicans, Sea Gulls, Whooping & Sandhill Cranes,
Roseate Spoonbill,
Florida Scrub Jay (State endemic),
and many more. Note : Florida is a winter home
for most species of eastern North American birds.
Environmental issues
Florida
ranks forty-sixth in total energy consumption per capita,
despite the heavy reliance on air conditioners and pool
pumps. This includes coal, natural gas, petroleum, and
retail electricity sales. It is estimated that only 1% of
energy in the state is generated through renewable
resources.
Increasing
landfill space is also an issue.
St. Lucie County is
planning to experiment with burning trash through
plasma arc gasification
to generate energy and reduce landfill space. The experiment
will be the largest of its kind in the world to date, and
begin operation no later than 2009. If successful, experts
estimate that the entire St. Lucie County landfill,
estimated to contain 4.3 million tons of trash, will
disappear within 18 years. Materials created in the energy
production can also be used in road construction.
Some are
concerned about the effects of
climate change and blame it for the major hurricanes of
2004 and 2005; however, recent research suggests the storms
are part of a natural cycle and not
Global Warming.
In July
2007, Florida Governor Charlie Crist announced plans to sign
executive orders that would impose strict new air-pollution
standards in the state, with aims to reduce so called "greenhouse-gas"
emissions by 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050. Crist's
orders would set new emissions targets for power companies,
automobiles and trucks, and toughen conservation goals for
state agencies and require state-owned vehicles to use
alternative fuels.
Red Tide has also been an issue on
the Southwest coast of Florida. While there has been a great
deal of conjecture over the cause of the toxic algae bloom,
there is no evidence that it is being caused by pollution or
that there has been an increase in the duration or frequency
of red tides.
Since their
accidental importation from South America into North America
in the 1930s, the Red
imported fire ant population has increased its
territorial range to include most of the
Southern United States,
including Florida. They are more aggressive than most native
ant species and have a painful sting.
Interactive Florida State Map
Explore the state of Florida with the dynamic map below. You can
zoom, pan and even get a satellite map view.
Move your cursor over the markers on the map to
learn more about Florida.
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