GaliWalker
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Post by GaliWalker on Sept 25, 2015 5:32:13 GMT -8
I happened across this 2014 National Geographic article, which tried to quantify which State was the flattest in the US: news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140314-flattest-states-geography-topography-science/Florida won, while "flat as a pancake" Kansas was only the 7th flattest, behind Florida, Illinois, North Dakota, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Delaware. What I found most surprising though was that West Virginia (which I hike in quite a bit) is the least flattest! Of course, once you think about it, it makes sense since there aren't a lot of flat parts to the State. New Hampshire and Vermont are similar, so I'd expect them to be pretty close to West Virginia in the rankings, though I couldn't find the full list in the article. One other interesting aspect of the story is that the photo of West Virginia which was used in the article was taken by me.  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2015 6:04:07 GMT -8
One other interesting aspect of the story is that the photo of West Virginia which was used in the article was taken by me. That's cool. I recognized the photo, too. In a way the concept of "flattest state" lends itself to a lot of misconceptions. For instance, how is Colorado flatter than West Virginia? Comparatively speaking, Colorado is larger and the eastern portion doesn't have so much elevation contrast as perhaps West Virginia. So the Central Rockies are averaged against the Great Plains in Colorado. But West Virginia, at a smaller size, has no such flatter averaging terrain. But if you were to take just the mountainous portion of Colorado, itself probably larger than the entire state of West Virginia, you'd have a greater mountainous area un-averaged against the flatter eastern part of Colorado. So inevitably, the rankings are fairly arbitrary. None of this is to down-rank West Virginia. It's just another perspective on the question. Anyhow, nice photo. National Geographic is no mean publication. |
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Sept 25, 2015 6:06:47 GMT -8
Texas has "flat parts".
I was born in, and have most always lived in, the "hilly part" - the so-called "Hill Country". Whether or not it really is "hilly" is a subjective thing.
Not long ago, I lived in the Dallas area for a few years. There's this town near there, called Plano, which I always thought was very well named. It's pretty "Plano" - and flat. I once observed that Plano is so flat that the landscape seems to have a reverse, concave curve to it. It's so flat that, driving into the western end of Plano you can see the eastern end in front of you. It's similar to the visual impression that we all got when truly flat screen TVs first came out: we were so used to the old CRTs that had a convex curve to the screen, that the new flat ones seemed to be curved the other way.
Florida may be the "flattest", but it's swampy. Water reflects, so there's that illusion of "depth". The dirt in Plano is just, well, plain, nonreflective and very flat. So flat it looks, well, just wrong.
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walkswithblackflies
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Post by walkswithblackflies on Sept 25, 2015 6:18:57 GMT -8
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walkswithblackflies
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Post by walkswithblackflies on Sept 25, 2015 6:22:34 GMT -8
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johnnyray
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Post by johnnyray on Sept 25, 2015 6:48:36 GMT -8
Side note Nat Geo has been purchased by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2015 7:12:12 GMT -8
Here is the complete list, with "flattest" states at the top. Hawaii and Alaska are left out. District of Columbia is included — for a total of 49:
1 Florida
2 Illinois
3 North Dakota
4 Louisiana
S Minnesota
6 Delaware
7 Kansas
8 Texas
9 Nevada
10 Indiana
11 South Dakota
12 Michigan
13 New Mexico
14 Arizona
15 South Carolina
16 Oklahoma
17 New Jersey
18 Iowa
19 Nebraska
20 Ohio
21 Arkansas
22 Mississippi
23 Utah
24 California
25 Colorado
26 North Carolina
27 Rhode Island
28 Maryland
29 Wisconsin
30 Georgia
31 Missouri
32 Idaho
33 Wyoming
34 Montana
35 Oregon
36 Maine
37 Alabama
38 District of Columbia
39 New York
40 Massachusetts
41 Washington
42 Virginia
43 Tennessee
44 Connecticut
45 Vermont
46 New Hampshire
47 Kentucky
48 Pennsylvania
49 West Virginia
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2015 7:13:21 GMT -8
Side note Nat Geo has been purchased by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Yeah, I read that. Tragic news.  |
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GaliWalker
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Post by GaliWalker on Sept 25, 2015 7:28:27 GMT -8
Here is the complete list ... Thanks! Yowza, Pennsylvania comes after West Virginia... I think we get thrown off by the height of mountains, which is not necessarily a criterion when considering "flatness". |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2015 7:47:42 GMT -8
I think we get thrown off by the height of mountains, which is not necessarily a criterion when considering "flatness". Yeah, some mountains go up and up and up. And others go up and down and up and down and up and down.  |
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on Sept 25, 2015 8:24:12 GMT -8
As the map shows, NJ has two distinct topological regions: almost dead flat in the south, and quite hilly in the north. I think North Jersey would probably rank close to PA, and South Jersey close to FL.
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walkswithblackflies
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Post by walkswithblackflies on Sept 25, 2015 9:37:12 GMT -8
Connecticut, Massachusetts, DC, and Alabama are the surprises to me.
I don't remember a single hill in DC. But it's been many moons since I was last there. Either my memory could be wrong, or the geography has changed.  |
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Post by hikingtiger on Sept 25, 2015 9:57:03 GMT -8
I would have thought the flatter LA (Lower Alabama) would have negated a good bit of the hilly northern portion of the state. As far as DC goes, wwbf, there's a decent pull up Connecticut Ave between DuPont Circle and the National Zoo. That's all I remember. |
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Post by rwtb123 on Sept 25, 2015 10:14:34 GMT -8
The entire western half of DC in particular Georgetown is one big hill heading up from the Potomac as evidenced by a drive up Wisconsin Ave or the steep steps up to Georgetown U. made famous in the movie "The Exorcist". Al. doesn't entirely surprise me since the So. Appalachians extend into Al. but the others do and I would have thought Me. would have been more mountainous but I guess a lot of the wilderness in the state is boggy rather than mountainous.
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Post by 1camper on Sept 25, 2015 11:38:40 GMT -8
The surprise to me is Rhode Island. 27 behind North Carolina?
Oh and congratulations on the pic, it is a beauty!
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