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Washington,
WA

Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest
region of the United States. The state is named after George
Washington, the first President of the United States.
It is the only U.S. state named after a
president. Washington was carved out of the western part of
Washington Territory and admitted to the Union as the 42nd
state in 1889. In 2006, the Census Bureau estimated the
state's population at 6,395,798.
Residents are called "Washingtonians" (emphasis
on the third syllable, pronounced as tone). Washington is
sometimes called Washington state or The state of Washington
to distinguish it from Washington, D.C., the U.S. capital.
Geography
Washington is the northwestern-most state of
the contiguous United States. Its northern border lies mainly
along the 49th parallel, with the Canadian province of British
Columbia to the north.
Washington borders Oregon to the south, with
the Columbia River forming most of the boundary and the 46th
parallel forming the eastern part of the southern boundary.
To the east Washington borders Idaho, bounded
mostly by the meridian running north from the confluence of
the Snake River and Clearwater River (about 116°57' west),
except for the southernmost section where the border follows
the Snake River. To the west of Washington lies the Pacific
Ocean.
Washington is in the region known as the
Pacific Northwest, a term which often includes part or all of
British Columbia in Canada and part of Alaska. Sometimes it
refers only to lands within the northwestern United States,
including Oregon.
The high mountains of the Cascade Range run
north-south, bisecting the state. Western Washington, west of
the Cascades, has a mostly marine west coast climate with
relatively mild temperatures, wet winters, and dry summers.
Western Washington also supports dense forests
of conifers and areas of temperate rain forest. In contrast,
Eastern Washington, east of the Cascades, has a relatively dry
climate with large areas of semiarid steppe and a few truly
arid deserts lying in the rainshadow of the Cascades; the
Hanford reservation receives an average annual precipitation
of between six and seven inches.
Farther east, the climate becomes less arid.
The Palouse region of southeast Washington was grassland that
has been mostly converted into farmland.
Other parts of eastern Washington are forested
and mountainous. The Cascade Range contains several volcanoes,
which reach altitudes significantly higher than the rest of
the mountains.
From the north to the south these volcanoes are
Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens,
and Mount Adams. Mount St. Helens is currently the only
Washington volcano that is actively erupting; however, all of
them are considered active volcanoes.
Washington's position on the Pacific Ocean and
the harbors of Puget Sound give the state a leading role in
maritime trade with Alaska, Canada, and the Pacific Rim. Puget
Sound's many islands are served by the largest ferry fleet in
the United States.
Washington is a land of contrasts. The deep
forests of the Olympic Peninsula, such as the Hoh Rain Forest,
are among the only temperate rainforests in the continental
United States, but the semi-desert east of the Cascade Range
has few trees. Mount Rainier, the highest mountain in the
state, is covered with more glacial ice than any other peak in
the lower 48 states.
Climate
Washington's climate varies greatly from west
to east. An oceanic climate (also called "marine west coast
climate") predominates in western Washington, and a much drier
climate prevails east of the Cascade Range.
Major factors determining Washington's climate
include the large semi-permanent high pressure and low
pressure systems of the north Pacific Ocean, the continental
air masses of North America, and the Olympic and Cascade
mountains.
In the spring and summer, a high pressure
anticyclone system dominates the north Pacific Ocean, causing
air to spiral out in a clockwise fashion.
For Washington this means prevailing winds from
the northwest bringing relatively cool air and a predictably
dry season.
In the autumn and winter, a low pressure
cyclone system takes over in the north Pacific 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
predictably wet season.
The term Pineapple Express is used to describe
the extreme form of this wet season pattern.
The coastal mountains and Cascades compound
this climatic pattern by causing orographic lift of the air
masses blown inland from the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the
windward side of the mountains receiving high levels of
precipitation and the leeward side receiving low levels.
This occurs most dramatically around the
Olympic Mountains and the Cascade Range. In both cases the
windward slopes facing southwest receive high precipitation
and mild, cool temperatures.
In contrast, the leeward slopes facing
northeast experience a rain shadow effect, with low
precipitation and warmer temperatures. As a result, there are
temperate rain forests on the southwest side of the Olympic
Mountains while the northeast side has a drier climate
sometimes called sub-mediterranean climate.
The San Juan Islands and the city of Sequim are
known for their dry climate compared to the rest of the
coastal region. The Olympic rain shadow extends into Canada.
Terms like "Mediterranean", "sub-Mediterranean", and "modified
Mediterranean" are sometimes used to describe the Olympic
rainshadow region even though it is quite different from the
standard "Mediterranean" climate.
The terms are mainly used to indicate a climate
with wet winters and dry summers with regular drought
conditions.
The Cascade Range forms a larger barrier than
the Olympics and has a correspondingly stronger orographic
effect. While the Puget Sound lowlands are known for clouds
and rain in the winter, the western slopes of the Cascades
receive larger amounts of precipitation, often falling as snow
at higher elevations.
East of the Cascades, a large region
experiences strong rain shadow effects. Semi-arid conditions
occur in much of eastern Washington with the strongest rain
shadow effects at the relatively low elevations of the central
Columbia River Plateau — especially the region just east of
the Columbia River from about the Snake River to the Okanagan
Highland.
This article is licensed under
the
GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the
Wikipedia
article "Washington".
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