THE REGIONS OF UNITED

STATES
THE NORTHEASTERN MIDWEST
The Northeastern US covers eleven states and The Midwest is a region that draws some conflict. It

is not that the Midwest is at war, but rather that

runs up the Atlantic coast and borders on Canada
people can’t really agree as to where its boundaries
to the north. It comprises the states of Vermont,
are on a map. According to the US government, the
Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maine,
states found in this region include Minnesota, North

Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin,

Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. . Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Kansas

WEST SOUTH
The south is a vast area in the US that covers many
The American West is full of folklore. From cowboys
states. It includes those of West Virginia, Virginia, Texas,
and gunfights at noon on the American frontier, to
Tennessee, South Carolina, Oklahoma, North Carolina,
Hollywood and its limelight of fame, the west has
Mississippi, Maryland, Louisiana, Kentucky, Georgia,
stories to tell. The states that comprise the American
Florida, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Arkansas,
west include Hawaii, Alaska, Idaho, Montana,
and Alabama. This region is home to the largest
Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona,
percentage of the population in the country, and it can
California, Washington, Oregon, and New Mexico.
trace many of its roots back to slavery.
 RELIEF
CLIMATE
The Northeast region has broad valleys, rolling hills, and low

mountains. The Appalachian Mountains stretch from Maine in

The Northeast region is about halfway
the Northeast region down to Alabama in the Southeast
between the North Pole and the equator, so

NORTHEASTERN
region.

The land in the lower part of the Northeast region is good for the climate is very different than the climate
farming, but the upper part of the region does not have much
of the Southeast. Winters in the Northeast are
fertile land. The soil in that part is very rocky. Long ago, mile-
long and cold, with lots of snowstorms. One
thick sheets of ice called glaciers covered much of the land.

As the glaciers moved across the land, they wore down kind of snowstorm, called a northeaster, can
mountains, carved deep grooves into the coastline, and bring over a foot of snow at one time. During
carried away most of the fertile soil. The melting glaciers
the cold winter months, Lake Erie may freeze
formed many lakes. Rocks and sand left behind by glaciers
over completely. Summers are warm, but short
formed islands and capes. Today, jagged cliffs rise up to a

hundred feet above the ocean on the northern coast. compared to those in the Southeast region.

FLORA AND FAUNA

The different habitats of the Northeast include wetlands, thick forests, meadows and coastal areas, which provide the diversity

needed for the different species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and others.

The Northeast is home to a couple of large, hoofed animals in the deer family: moose and white-tailed deer.

The NortheasT is also home for predatory mammals. Although Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) were once common throughout many

areas of the United States, they now have limited U.S. populations; Maine is the only Northeast state they call home. Bobcats (Felis

rufus) also live in the Northeast. Coyotes (Canis latrans) are extremely adaptable and live in nearly any habitat with a food source.

The shores of the Northeast are visited by several species of marine creatures including whales, sea turtles and seals.

The various habitats in Northeast prove beneficial to the many types of reptiles and amphibians living in the state. Turtle species

include terrestrial box turtles and the large snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina). Snakes are particularly diverse in the Northeast
 WEATHER FLORA AND FAUNA
Weather in the West resembles that of other dry regions of
The native vegetation, insofar as it can be reconstructed, was
the world, often extreme, violent, and reliably unreliable.
prairie, the legendary sea of tall, deep-rooted grass now
Rainfall, for example, obeys a cruel natural law: as total
almost entirely tilled and planted to grains. Soils, often of
precipitation decreases, it becomes more undependable.
loessial derivation, include the enormously productive
East of the Rockies all climatic boundaries are gradational.
chernozem (black earth) in the north, with reddish prairie soils
None, however, is so important or so imperceptibly subtle as
of nearly equal fertility in the south. The western edge of the
the boundary zone that separates the Humid East from the
prairie fades gradually into the shortgrass steppe of the High
Dry West and that alternates unpredictably between arid
Plains, the change a function of diminishing rainfall. The
and humid conditions from year to year. Stretching eastern edge, however, represents one of the few major
approximately from Texas to North Dakota in an ill-defined discordances between a climatic and biotic boundary in the
band between the 95th and 100th meridians, this United States, for the grassland penetrates the eastern forest
transitional region deserves separate recognition, partly in a great salient across humid Illinois and Indiana. Many

because of its great size, and partly because of the fine scholars believe this part of the prairie was artificially induced

balance between surplus and deficit rainfall, which by repeated burning and consequent destruction of the forest
WEST
produces a unique and valuable combination of soils, flora, margins by Indians.

and fauna.

Throughout the Cordillera and Intermontane regions, irregular topography shatters the grand bioclimatic pattern into an intricate mosaic of tiny

RELIEF
regions that differ drastically according to elevation and exposure. No small- or medium-scale map can accurately record such complexity, and

mountainous parts of the West are said, noncommittally, to have a “mountain climate.” Lowlands are usually dry, but increasing elevation brings

lower temperature, decreased evaporation, and—if a slope faces prevailing winds—greater precipitation. Soils vary wildly from place to place,

but vegetation is fairly predictable.

 SOUTH
The South is a vast, diverse region, having numerous climatic zones,

including temperate, sub-tropical, tropical, and arid. Many crops grow

easily in its soils and can be grown without frost for at least six months

of the year. Some parts of the South, particularly the Southeast, have

landscapes characterized by the presence of live oaks, magnolia

trees, yellow jessamine vines, and flowering dogwoods. Another

common environment is the bayous and swampland of the Gulf Coast,

especially in Louisiana. The South is a victim of kudzu, an invasive

fast-growing vine that covers large amounts of land and kills

indigenous plant life.

. Pine, hickory, tupelo, pecan, gum, birch, and sycamore are found in

the southern forest that stretches along the Gulf coast into the

eastern half of Texas.

 MIDWEST
CLIMATE

Climate is the overall weather patterns

in a given area over a long period of

time. The climate of the Midwest region

is considered a humid continental

RELIEF FLORA AND FAUNA

climate, which means it has a very large

temperature difference between the

warmest average temperatures in the

summer and the coldest average

The Midwest has prairie land. A prairie is a
temperatures in the winter. The summer
wide grassland with few trees. prairie grass

The mountain range in the temperature high averages at 85

and wildflowers are beautiful when they
degrees Fahrenheit (29 C) and the
midwestern region is called the sway in the wind.
average winter low of 15 degrees
Ozark Mountains. The tallest peak Many animals live on the prairie. There are
Fahrenheit (-9 C).
in the part of the Ozark Mountains prairie dogs, groundhogs, deer, hawks and

jackrabbits. Much of the prairie land in the

that are in the midwest region is
Midwest has been turned into farms. Up in
Taum Sauk Mountain in Missouri. It
the northern part of the Midwest are forests
measures 1775 feet above sea
and woods. Bears and skunks live there.
level.
Beaver, raccoons and many kinds of fish live

near the rivers.