Category: Latitude
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Northernmost England. Maybe.
Berwick-upon-Tweed is the northernmost town in England. However, due to geography and history it also holds a lot in common with Scotland. First, notice it’s peculiar location along the River Tweed: specifically the northern side of the River Tweed. How did a little piece of England find its way to the opposite side of a…
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Coordinate Palindromes
I noticed an odd query on the site earlier today. Someone was searching for “Coordinate Palindromes in Nebraska.” I know exactly how they arrived here because the search engine linked them to one of my previous articles featuring Place Name Palindromes. However, I had no familiarity with what could possibly be considered a coordinate palindrome.…
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Fort Blunder
Mistakes happen. Generally though, a nation doesn’t accidentally build a fort on the wrong side of an international border. A neighboring country, even if friendly, might not appreciate that. Throw in a history of mutual mistrust and territorial incursions and things could get much worse. The United States made just such an incursion onto British…
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Sometimes North is South
Canada occupies such an amazingly large swath of upper North American that, understandably, one can overlook exactly how far south the country actually extends. The Province of Ontario contains its most southerly extremes: on the mainland at Point Pelee; on solid land at the edge of Middle Island; and on open water at an international…
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A Week in Maine, Part III
I’m quickly approaching the end of my way-to-brief holiday to Maine’s midcoast region. There’s time for one more set of vignettes and then I’ll get back to all the geo-oddities I’ve held in reserve awaiting my return. We spent another day relaxing on the water followed by a day meandering our way further up the…
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Just How Wide is Hudson Bay, Really?
Everything about Canada is larger than life. It’s difficult to wrap one’s mind around its incredible breadth and scale. I came across a tantalizing fact that I thought might help conceptualize its vastness. Actually it’s a clever little illusion, some geography-slight-of-hand. In fact I think it’s more enjoyable as a mind-bender than as a trivia…
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Southernmost Northern Permafrost
Permafrost is defined as soil that maintains a temperature at or below freezing for two complete summers and an intervening winter. Actual “frost” doesn’t need to be present. Also the extent of permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere varies dramatically. It depends on many factors including topography, seasonal weather patterns, and permanent climate change. There are…
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Mountaineering by Subway
Let’s climb to the summit of a significant highpoint. This video approaches and then transitions to a panoramic view from the summit of the highest point of elevation in the District of Columbia. But that’s getting a little ahead of the story. Let me explain how I found myself here recently. Here is “Point Reno”…
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Centre of Australia
Do you notice anything remarkable about this little patch? It seems like this must be the middle of nowhere, just a sea of red soil and desert scrub removed from any hospitable place. However, according to some calculations, this is the centre of Australia. Am I the last one on the planet to know that…
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The 45X90 Spot
A spot in the middle of a soybean field in north-central Wisconsin marks a confluence of great significance to people who appreciate strange geography. Two invisible lines cross near the small town of Poniatowski; one representing 45 degrees north latitude and one representing 90 degrees west longitude. The importance of this particular latitude is perhaps…