Geography of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is a state in the northeastern United States that has many different landscapes. It ranges from flat areas near water to high, hilly regions. This variety makes Pennsylvania important for its natural resources and its history.

Map of Pennsylvania's cities and rivers

The state played a big role in the early days of the United States. It has ports where ships can come and go, and it has many useful materials like coal and forests. These features have helped shape Pennsylvania's past and present.

Major features

The Lehigh River in the Lehigh Valley

Pennsylvania is called the Keystone State because it sits between the Northeastern United States and the Southern United States. It also connects the Atlantic seaboard to the Midwest, and its western part reaches up to the Great Lakes near Erie.

The state is surrounded by New York to the north, New Jersey to the east, Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia to the south, Ohio to the west, and Lake Erie to the northwest. It also shares a small border with Canada. Pennsylvania has many rivers, including the Delaware, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio. It has more waterways than any other state in the United States. Smaller rivers like the Lehigh River and Oil Creek were important for early industry.

Pennsylvania is 180 miles from north to south and 310 miles from east to west. The total land area is 44,817 square miles (116,080 km²), with 739,200 acres (2,991 km²) of water. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States. The highest point is 3,213 feet above sea level at Mount Davis, while the lowest point is at sea level on the Delaware River.

Regions

Pennsylvania Dutch region

Main article: Pennsylvania Dutch Country

Pennsylvania terrain along the curving Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians; from the Poconos, the parallel ridges again turn northerly diagonally across Eastern New York, where the Delaware and Hudson rivers both cut through the ridges, through Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, then continue on as the northern Appalachian Mountains in Northern New England

The Pennsylvania Dutch region in south-central Pennsylvania is a popular place for visitors to explore. The Pennsylvania Dutch include groups like the Amish, Mennonites, and other similar communities living around cities such as Lancaster, York, and Harrisburg. Some of these communities avoid modern tools and use horse-drawn equipment for farming, while others live much like everyone else. Many people in the area trace their roots to parts of Germany, Alsace, and Switzerland, even though the name "Dutch" comes from an old meaning of the word that referred to people from West Germanic language areas.

Western Pennsylvania

Main article: Western Pennsylvania

Counties of Pennsylvania's Coal Region, known for its anthracite

Western Pennsylvania makes up about a third of the state and has its own unique character. This area includes the city of Pittsburgh and was important for the American steel industry. The land here also has different farming practices, and it was home to early oil and timber industries. The way people speak can also differ from other parts of Pennsylvania because of these unique history and geography.

The mountains

Pennsylvania's anthracite coal fields

Pennsylvania is divided by the Appalachian Mountains, which run in a curved shape from the southwest to the northeast. These mountains made travel difficult in the past, so people often used old trails along the higher lands. Rivers like the Susquehanna River helped connect different parts of the state. The land to the northwest of these mountains is called the Allegheny Plateau, a higher area with valleys formed by small streams. This region has important resources like natural gas, coal, and petroleum, which helped power industries in the past.

The shores

Pennsylvania has a small coastline along the Delaware River, including the busy Port of Philadelphia. It also has a shoreline on Lake Erie in the northwest. The Port of Pittsburgh is a major port because of the large amount of coal shipped there by boat down the Ohio River.

Ecological disasters

Pennsylvania has experienced several big environmental problems since the 1800s. In 1889, a dam called the South Fork Dam broke after heavy rain, causing flooding that greatly affected the town of Johnstown. In 1948, bad air conditions in Donora trapped harmful smoke from factories, making many people sick. In 1961, a coal fire started in Centralia and still burns today, forcing most of the town to leave. In 1979, an event at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power near Harrisburg cost a lot to fix and changed how people felt about nuclear power in the United States.

Climate

Main articles: Climate of Pennsylvania and Climate change in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has three main climate areas, shaped more by height than by how far north or south it is or how close it is to the ocean. Most of the state has a humid continental climate. The lower areas, where big cities are, have cool to cold winters and hot, sticky summers. Higher areas have colder, snowier winters and warm, sticky summers. The very southeast, near Philadelphia, has a humid subtropical climate with milder winters and hot, sticky summers.

Rain is common all over the state. The main weather influences come from the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and cold air moving over the Great Lakes.