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Note: Alaska and Hawaii are shown out of
position for reference only and are not to scale.
Blank
Maryland State Outline Map
Maryland possesses a great variety of
topography, hence its
nickname, "America in Miniature." It ranges from
sandy dunes dotted with
seagrass in the east, to low marshlands teeming with
water snakes and large bald
cypress near the bay, to gently rolling hills of
oak forest in the
Piedmont Region,
and mountain pine groves in the
west.
Maryland is
bounded on the north by Pennsylvania,
on the west by West Virginia,
on the east by Delaware and the
Atlantic Ocean, and on the
south, across the Potomac River,
by West Virginia and
Virginia. The mid-portion of this
border is interrupted on the Maryland side by
Washington, DC, which sits on
land originally part of Maryland. The
Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects
the state, and the counties east of the bay are known
collectively as the
Eastern Shore. Most of the state's waterways are part of
the Chesapeake Bay watershed, with the exception of a
portion of Garrett
County drained by the
Youghiogheny River, as part of the watershed of the
Mississippi River, the
eastern half of Worcester County, which drains into
Maryland's Atlantic Coastal Bays, and a small portion of the
state's northeast corner which drains into the
Delaware River watershed. So
prominent is the Chesapeake in Maryland's geography and
economic life that there has been periodic agitation to
change the state's official nickname to the "Bay State," a
name currently used by
Massachusetts.
The highest
point in Maryland is Hoye Crest
on Backbone Mountain, which is in the southwest corner
of Garrett County, near the border with West Virginia and
near the headwaters of the North Branch of the Potomac
River. In western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way
across the state, is a point at which the state is only
about 1 mile (2 km) wide. This geographical curiosity, which
makes Maryland the narrowest state, is located near the
small town of Hancock, and
results from Maryland's northern and southern boundaries
being marked by the Mason-Dixon
Line and the north-arching Potomac River, respectively.
Portions of
Maryland are included in a number of official and unofficial
geographic regions. For example, the
Delmarva Peninsula
comprises the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland, the entire
state of Delaware, and the two counties that make up the
Eastern Shore of
Virginia, and the westernmost counties of Maryland are
considered part of Appalachia.
Much of the Baltimore-Washington corridor lies in the
rolling hills of the Appalachian
Piedmont.
A quirk of
Maryland's geography is that the state contains no natural
lakes. During the last Ice Age,
glaciers did not reach as far south as Maryland, and
therefore did not carve out deep natural lakes as exist in
northern states. There are numerous man-made lakes, the
largest being Deep Creek Lake,
a reservoir in Garrett County.
The lack of glacial history also accounts for Maryland's
soil, which is more sandy and muddy than the rocky soils of
New England
Human geography
The
majority of Maryland's population is concentrated in the
cities and suburbs surrounding
Washington, DC and Maryland's most populous city,
Baltimore. Historically,
these cities and many others in Maryland developed along the
fall line, the point at which rivers are no longer navigable
from sea level due to the presence of rapids or waterfalls.
Maryland's capital, Annapolis,
is one exception to this rule, lying along the
Severn River close to
where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. Other major
population centers include suburban hubs
Columbia in
Howard County,
Silver Spring,
Rockville and
Gaithersburg in
Montgomery County,
Frederick in
Frederick County
and Hagerstown in
Washington County.
The eastern, southern, and western portions of the state
tend to be more rural, although they are dotted with cities
of regional importance such as
Salisbury and
Ocean City on the
eastern shore,
Waldorf and
La Plata in southern
Maryland, and Cumberland
in Western Maryland.
Climate
Maryland
has wide array of climates for a state of its size. It
depends on numerous variables, such as proximity to water,
elevation, and protection from northern weather due to
downslope winds.
The eastern
half of Maryland lies on the
Atlantic Coastal Plain,
with very flat topography and very sandy or muddy soil. This
region has a humid
subtropical climate, with hot, humid summers and a
short, mild to cool winter. This region includes the cities
of Salisbury,
Annapolis,
Ocean City, and southern and
eastern greater Baltimore.
Beyond this
region lies the Piedmont
which lies in the transition between the
humid subtropical
climate zone and the
humid continental
climate zone (Köppen Dfa), with hot, humid
summers and moderately cold winters where significant
snowfall and significant subfreezing temperatures are an
annual occurrence. This region includes
Frederick,
Hagerstown,
Westminster,
Gaithersburg and northern
and western greater Baltimore.
Extreme
western Maryland, in the higher elevations of
Allegany County and
Garrett County lie completely
in the Humid
continental climate (Köppen Dfa) due to elevation
(more typical of inland New England
and the Midwestern U.S.) with milder summers and cold, snowy
winters. Some parts of extreme western Maryland possess the
cool summer Humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb), with
summer average temperatures below 71°F.[6][citation
needed]
Precipitation in the state is very generous, as it is on
most of the East Coast. Annual rainfall ranges from 40-45
inches (1000-1150 mm) in virtually every part of the state,
falling very evenly. Nearly every part of Maryland receives
3.5-4.5 inches (95-110 mm) per month of precipitation.
Snowfall varies from 9 inches (23 cm) in the coastal areas
to over 100 inches (250 cm) a winter in the western
mountains of the state.
Because of its location near the
Atlantic Coast, Maryland is somewhat vulnerable to
tropical cyclones, although
the Delmarva Peninsula,
and the outer banks of North
Carolina to the south provide a large buffer, such that
a strike from a major hurricane (category 3 or above) is not
very likely. More often, Maryland might get the remnants of
a tropical system which has already come ashore which dumps
a huge amount of rain. Maryland averages around 30-40 days
of thunderstorms a year, and averages around 6 tornado
strikes annually.
Flora and fauna
As is
typical of states on the
East Coast,
Maryland's plant life is abundant and healthy. A good dose
of annual precipitation helps to support many types of
plants, including seagrass and
various reeds at the smaller end
of the spectrum to the gigantic Wye Oak,
a huge example of White oak, the
state tree, which can grow in excess of 70 feet (20 m) tall.
Maryland also possesses an abundance of pines and
maples among its endemic tree life.
Many foreign species are cultivated in the state, some as
ornamentals, others as novelty species. Included among these
are the Crape Myrtle,
Italian Cypress,
live oak in the warmer parts of the
state, and even hardy palm trees
in the warmer central and eastern parts of the state. USDA
plant hardiness zones in the
state range from Zone 5 in the extreme western part of the
state to 6 and 7 in the central part, and Zone 8 around the
southern part of the coast, the bay area, and most of
metropolitan
Baltimore. Large areas of Maryland have problems with
kudzu, an invasive plant species that
chokes out growth of endemic plant life.
The state
harbors a great number of deer,
particularly in the woody and mountainous west of the state,
and overpopulation can become a problem from year-to-year.
The Chesapeake Bay provides
the state with its huge cash crop of
blue crabs, and the southern and eastern portion of
Maryland is warm enough to support a
tobacco cash crop.
Lawns in
Maryland carry a variety of species, mostly due to its
location in the Transition Zone for
lawngrasses. The western part of the state is cold
enough to support Kentucky
Bluegrass, and Fine
Fescues, which are widespread from the foothills west.
The area around the Chesapeake Bay
is usually turfed with transition species such as
Zoysia, Tall fescue, and
Bermudagrass.
St. Augustine grass can
be grown in the parts of the state that are in Zone 8.
Interactive Maryland State Map
Explore the state of Maryland 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 Maryland.
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