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List of extreme points of the United States

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

List of extreme points of the United States
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This is a list of points in the United States that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location in the country. Also included are extreme points in elevation, extreme distances and other points of peculiar geographic interest.

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Extreme points in the 50 states: Point Barrow, Ka Lae, Sail Rock, Peaked Island
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Extreme points in the contiguous 48 states: Northwest Angle, Ballast Key, Sail Rock, Bodelteh Islands
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Extreme points of the U.S. on the North American continent: Point Barrow, Cape Sable, West Quoddy Head, Cape Prince of Wales
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Extreme points in all U.S. territory: Point Barrow, Rose Atoll, Wake Island, Peaked Island (red dots); Point Udall, Guam, and Point Udall, USVI are shown as green dots. The International Date Line is shown in yellow.

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Northernmost points

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Southernmost points

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Easternmost points

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Westernmost points

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Interpretation of easternmost and westernmost

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There are three methods for reckoning the eastern and western extremes of the United States.

One method is to use the Prime Meridian as the dividing line between east and west. This meridian running through Greenwich, London, is defined as zero degrees longitude and could be called the least eastern and least western place in the world. The 180th meridian, on the opposite side of the globe, is therefore the easternmost and westernmost place in the world.

Another method is to use the International Date Line as the easternmost–westernmost extreme. On the equinox, the easternmost place would be where the day first begins, and the westernmost is where the day last ends.

Still another method is to first determine the geographic center of the country and from there measure the shortest distance to every other point. All U.S. territory is spread across less than 180° of longitude, so from any spot in the U.S. it is more direct to reach the easternmost point, Point Udall, U.S. Virgin Islands, by traveling east than by traveling west. Likewise, there is not a single point in U.S. territory from which heading east is a shorter route to the westernmost point, Point Udall, Guam, than heading west would be, even accounting for circumpolar routes. The two different Point Udalls are named for two different men: Mo Udall (Guam) and Stewart Udall (Virgin Islands), brothers from the Udall family of Arizona who both served as U.S. Congressmen.[3]

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Highest points

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Lowest points

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Other points

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Islands

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Lakes

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Rivers

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Extreme distances


  • Greatest east–west distance in U.S. territory [?]: 5,823 miles (9,371 km), from Kure Atoll, Hawaii, to Riviera Beach, Florida.[23]
Some map projections make diagonal lines appear longer than they actually are. The diagonal line from Kure Atoll, Hawaii, to West Quoddy Head, Maine, is 5,797 miles (9,329 km); and the diagonal from Cape Wrangell, Attu Island, Alaska, to Log Point, on Elliott Key, Florida, is 5,505 miles (8,859 km).

See also

Notes

  1. Historical landmark buoy of Northernmost Point in the Contiguous US is placed in Youngs Bay, 8.7 miles (14 km) to the east 49°20′42.36″N 94°58′11.09″W.
  2. The summit elevation of Mount Whitney includes an adjustment of +1.869 m (+6.1 ft) from NGVD 29 to NAVD 88.
  3. Furnace Creek, in Death Valley, California, set the world record for the highest reliably reported ambient air temperature of 134 °F (57 °C), on July 10, 1913. This record has been eclipsed only once, by a questionable reading of 136 °F (58 °C), recorded in 'Aziziya, Libya, on September 13, 1922.
  4. Sounding at 46° 54' 31"N, 86° 35' 52"W, on NOAA chart 14963, Grand Marais to Big Bay Point, scale 1:120,000, 2006. Chart datum (as shown on the chart) is 601.1 feet above mean sea level, at Rimouski, Quebec.
  5. Two identical soundings at 47° 45.2'N, 122° 26.0'W, and 47° 44.6'N, 122° 25.4'W, on NOAA chart 18446, Puget Sound: Apple Cove Point to Keyport, scale 1:25,000, 2005. Chart datum (as shown on the chart) is lower low water.

References

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