User:Ecpiandy/Washington (state)

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, Washington encompasses a total area of 71,299.64 sqmi, including 4,755.58 sqmi of water, making it the 18th-largest state by area. Washington is bordered by the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north; by the Pacific Ocean to the west; by Oregon to the south; and by Idaho to the east. Washington's boundary with Idaho border consists of meridian running north from the confluence of the Snake River and Clearwater River, while its Oregon boundary lies between the Columbia River at the 46th parallel north. The northern border is defined mostly as the 49° parallel north, forming the Canada–United States border. The census-designated place (CDP) of Point Roberts, located on the southwestern tip of the Tsawwassen Peninsula, is entirely surrounded by British Columbia on land, but it is geographically part of Washington, making it a pene-exclave of the United States.

Geology and terrain


The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region partly in Washington. Majority of Washington's water features flow into the Columbia, including the Willamette River, Kootenay River, and Pend Oreille River, with a drainage basin of about 258,000 sqmi extending into seven adjacent states. The state is home to over 35 lakes, the largest of which are Lake Roosevelt, Lake Chelan, and Lake Washington, with a combined surface area of 134138 acres. Geographically and geologically, Washington is divided into eight regions from east to west: Columbia Plateau, Blue Mountains, Okanogan Highlands, Cascade Range, Portland Basin, Puget Sound, Long Beach Peninsula, and Olympic Peninsula.

The mountains of the Cascade Range run north-south, bisecting the state into Western Washington and Eastern Washington. The range comprises several active volcanoes, reaching altitudes significantly higher than the rest of the mountains, including Mount Rainier, one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world due to its proximity to a largely populated metropolitan region, and Mount St. Helens, the single volcano actively erupting. Mount Rainier is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States, located 14,411 ft above sea level. Because of its large amount of glacial ice, Mount Rainier could potentially produce massive lahars that would threaten the entire Puyallup River valley. The Columbia Basin is a physiographic province geographically located near the drainage basin of the Columbia River, with relatively high points in the state, the tallest rising to over 4,000 ft above sea level. It is characterized by incised rivers and various plateau-like areas.

Washington is home to over 63 mountain ranges, the most prominent of which include the Olympic Mountains, on the Olympic Peninsula; the Kettle River Range in the northeast; and the Blue Mountains in the southeast. Western Washington is impacted by crustal tectonics, due to the Juan de Fuca channel sliding under the continent through a process known as subduction. Its subducted rocks is filled with more than upwellings of magma that emerge as arcs of volcanoes, while its series of sedimentary rocks are typically laid down by streams or deposited during high stands of sea level. The state's most productive soils are located within the Columbia Basin, mostly along its windblown silts.



Due to its geographical location near Mount Rainier and the Pacific Ocean, the Western Washington area has received a substantial amount of damaging earthquakes. In contrast, Eastern Washington has only received the 1872 North Cascades earthquake for significant damage—the state's largest historical earthquake—with a magnitude of between 6.5 and 7.0 affecting an area of over 150,000 sqmi. The epicenter was located at Omak Rock, a balancing rock available for tourism adjacent to Omak Lake. The Okanogan Highlands, a plateau-like region extending into British Columbia, hosts the Omak Rock. It also includes Washington's oldest sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, and is an extension of the Rocky Mountains, with summits and mountain ranges separated by glaciated trenches.

Climate
The climate of Washington becomes increasingly warmer and more humid farther south and east. Seasonal extremes vary from average lows of 36.6 F in January to average highs of 56.6 F in July. The lowest and highest recorded temperatures, respectively, are -48 F, and 118 F. The Pacific Ocean has a strong effect on western coastal areas of the state. Influenced by an oceanic climate, coastal weather is subject to precipitation, most pronouncedly along the slopes in the southwestern part of the state.

Washington has an annual average of around 10 days of thunderstorm activity, particularly in the western part of the state, and an average annual precipation of 45.7 inch. The climate of the Eastern Washington area is considerablely higher by temperature and milder by precipitation than that of Western Washington, because of a rain shadow created outside of the North Cascades and its geographical location farther east of the oceanshore near the western part. This shadow comprises an annual average of 6 inch of rain. Cold air masses arriving over the mountains in winter can lead to significant snowfalls, with an estimated 400 inch to 600 inch of snow annually in mountainous areas. These regions are also composed of temperate rainforests an average high of 150 inch of rain annually.

Prevailing winds from the northwest provide Washington with relatively cool air and a dry season. In the autumn and winter, a low pressure cyclone system takes over in the ocean, with air spiraling inward in a counter-clockwise fashion. This causes Washington's prevailing winds to come from the southwest, bringing relatively warm and moist air masses and a wet season. The term Pineapple Express is used to describe the extreme form of this wet season pattern.

Flora and fauna
Forests cover 52% of the state's land area, mostly west of the North Cascades. Approximately two-thirds of Washington's forested area is publicly owned, including 64% of federal land. Other common trees and plants include camassia, Douglas fir, hemlock, penstemon, ponderosa pine, western red cedar, and many species of ferns. The state's various areas of wilderness offer sanctuary, with substantially large populations of shorebirds and marine mammals. The Pacific shore surrounding the San Juan Islands are heavily inhabited with killer, gray and humpback whales.



Mammals include bat, black bear, bobcat, cougar, coyote, deer, elk, moose, mountain beaver, muskrat, nutria, opossum, pocket gopher, raccoon, river otter, skunk, and tree squirrel. Birds include the Canada Goose, crows, Domestic Pigeon, magpies, owls, robins, starling, swallows, and woodpeckers. There have been a large number of species introduced to Washington, dating back to the early 1700s, including horses and burros. The channel catfish, lamprey, and sturgeon are among the 400 known freshwater fishes. Kittitas County is host to a variety of species, including a diversity of grasses, herbs, trees, birds, mammals and amphibians, such as the Cascades frog and the rough-skinned newt. Along with the Cascades frog, there are several forms of snakes that define the most prominent reptiles and amphibians. Coastal bays and islands are often inhabited by plentiful amounts of shellfish and whales. There are five species of salmon that ascend the Western Washington area, from streams to spawn.

Washington has a variety of National Park Service units, such as the Alta Lake State Park, San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and three national parks, the Olympic National Park, North Cascades National Park, and Mount Rainier National Park‎. The three national parks were established between 1899 and 1968. Almost 95% (876,517 acres, 354,714 hectares, 3,547.14 square kilometers) of Olympic National Park's area has been designated as wilderness under the National Wilderness Preservation System. Additionally, there are 143 state parks and 9 national forests, run by the Washington State Park System and the United States Forest Service. The Okanogan National Forest is the largest national forest located on the West Coast, encompassing 1,499,023 acre. It is managed together as the Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest, encompassing a considerablely larger area of around 3,239,404 acre.

Cities and towns


Washington is divided into 39 counties, of which eight were created by Oregon governments prior to the creation of Washington Territory in 1853. The state is among those with no consolidated city-counties. Washington limits the authority of cities and counties to countermand laws expressly allowed by the Revised Code of Washington (RCW). In addition to cities, there are also incorporated towns, which legally have a population of under 1,500 residents at the time of reorganization as of 1994. Communities of over 1,500 inhabitants are legally incorporated as cities. Finally, there are hundreds of census-designated places (CDPs) and unincorporated communities, mostly consisting of small populations. Washington does not have any further political subdivisions, such as villages or townships.

Washington has 12 Metropolitan Statistical Areas; Seattle–Tacoma, Portland–Vancouver, and Spokane are the three most populous, with a combined population of 4,477,366 as of 2012. Approximately two Metropolitan Statistical Areas also lie within an adjacent state. Olympia is the capital of Washington, with a metropolitan population of 252,264 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the larger Combined Statistical Area anchored by the city of Seattle, with an estimated 4,399,332 residents as of 2012. Seattle, located north of Olympia, is the largest city in the state by both population and area, with Spokane and Tacoma following at second and third, respectively. Spokane forms the urban core of the Inland Northwest region, encompassing all of Eastern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle.

King County is the most populous locality in Washington, with over two million residents. The county comprises a major shopping district in Seattle, home to the economic and social activity in its metropolitan area. It is the both the fastest-growing county in the state and has the highest median household income ($68,065) of any other locality in the state. Okanogan County is the largest county by total area in Washington, and among the largest in the country. Despite this, it is only home to an estimated 41,120 residents as of the 2010 census, giving it a low population density of 8 PD/sqmi. Like several other Washington localities, Okanogan County is home to a regional center, the city of Omak, and scattered towns.