[Originally posted Saturday, December 3, 2005]
Anyone can look these up. How well can you do from knowledge you already have? Answers will be posted later today.
1. Of the 50 states, 24 meet the sea (or tidewater); that is, their lowest elevation is sea level (well, actually Louisiana (minus 8 feet) and California (minus 282 feet) go below sea level, but that’s irrelevant here). Of the remaining 26 states that do not meet sea level, which has the lowest elevation?
Special bonus question: Which has second lowest elevation?
2. Of the 50 states, the 13 westernmost states have elevations above 11,000 feet. Texas has the next highest elevation (8,749) followed by South Dakota (7,242). The next highest elevation is in a state east of the Mississippi River. Which state is it?
3. As we all know since Katrina, New Orleans has sections of the city that are below sea level (minus 8 feet is the lowest). Which of the 50 largest cities (by population) has the highest elevation? (As a point of reference, the 50th largest city is Wichita, Kansas, population 354,000.)
4. The mnemonic for remembering the Great Lakes is HOMES. Arrange the letters by the size of the lakes.
Special bonus question: Four of the lakes are within 32 feet of the same elevation. The other is 326 feet lower. What comes in between the lowest lake and the next one upstream?
5. Of the 50 states, which is the easternmost, southernmost, westernmost and northernmost?
So I know the answer to #5: Florida is southernmost
and Alaska is the rest, as the islands cross 180 degres making them east and western most at same time. And northern most as expected.
Cheers, Mi3ke
Here are the answers to the questions, as listed by the U.S. Geological Survey.
1. Arkansas, 55 feet above sea level, along the Ouachita River.
Bonus question: Arizona, 70 feet above sea level, Colorado River near Yuma.
Vermont is third, 95 feet, Lake Champlain.
2. North Carolina 6,684 feet above sea level. Tennessee is second (6,643); New Hampshire third (6,288); Virginia fourth (5,729).
3. Albuquerque, 6,120 feet above sea level. Denver is second at 5,470 (Denver’s lowest point is 5,130; Albuquerque’s lowest 4,946.) Los Angeles goes from sea level to 5,074; Honolulu from sea level to 4,020. El Paso has a highest point of 4,080, edging out Honolulu for fourth place. Tucson is sixth, 2,950.
4. SHMOE Superior Huron Michigan Ontario Erie (Ontario and Erie together are smaller than the next biggest, Lake Michigan.)
Bonus question: Niagara Falls (182 feet) is between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
5.
North, 71º23′ Alaska
South, 18º55′ Hawaii (Texas 25º50′; Florida 24º32′)
West, 179º06′ Alaska
And the easternmost point in the 50 states, 179º46′ East Longitude, Pochnoi Point, Semisopochnoi Island, Alaska. You can see Russia from there.
Guam is further east and Samoa is much further south, but not states yet.