| Climate: mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest;
low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally
in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes
of the Rocky Mountains. |
| Natural Resources
: coal, copper, lead, molybdenum,
phosphates, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber |
| Land Use
: arable land: 19%,
permanent crops: 0%,
permanent pastures: 25%,
forests and woodland: 30%,
other: 26% |
| Area:
total: 9,629,091 sq km
land: 9,158,960 sq km
water: 470,131 sq km
(note: includes only the 50 states and District of Columbia) --- Land Total = 12,248km |
| Geography Note: world's third-largest country (after Russia and Canada) |
