Most Geographically Diverse State: Hawaii vs California

[MB8abovetherim]

Originally Posted by sav858

What are you talking about? Rainfall in Hawaii ranges HUNDREDS of inches over a relatively short distance, how is that "marginal" when no other state possesses such a range, especially in such a short distance? You have tropical rainforests on one side of the island and arid, desert like vegetation on the other side. And the upper elevations of Hawaii I don't think you can call tropical since they are much colder and the highest speaks get snow. I'm guessing you've actually never been to Hawaii and seen all the different types of landscapes and climates it has.

That's just a Rain Shadow. It doesn't necessarily make a place uber-diverse. California has similar areas along the Coastal Ranges and in the Sierra Nevada. Granted, not to that extreme but at the same time, most of California's heaviest precipitation falls as snow. And not to mention California simply isn't as wet as Hawaii to begin with. Now, Hawaii is quite diverse, no doubt. But I'm saying it doesn't pack enough of it to take down California. Where in Hawaii can I find Alpine Tundra? What Hawaiian peaks are capped with glaciers? When was the last time the highest AND lowest temperatures in the US were both recorded in Hawaii on the same day? Those areas and events can be found and do happen in California. California does offer more than Hawaii.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by MB8abovetherim

That's just a Rain Shadow. It doesn't necessarily make a place uber-diverse. California has similar areas along the Coastal Ranges and in the Sierra Nevada. Granted, not to that extreme but at the same time, most of California's heaviest precipitation falls as snow. And not to mention California simply isn't as wet as Hawaii to begin with. Now, Hawaii is quite diverse, no doubt. But I'm saying it doesn't pack enough of it to take down California. Where in Hawaii can I find Alpine Tundra? What Hawaiian peaks are capped with glaciers? When was the last time the highest AND lowest temperatures in the US were both recorded in Hawaii on the same day? Those areas and events can be found and do happen in California. California does offer more than Hawaii.

I never said it was more diverse than CA OVERALL as CA is much larger, but pound for pound Hawaii is more diverse in an equal amount of land area. Where you can you find a rainforest, snow capped mountain, desert, and 80 degree ocean water within 2 hours of each other in CA? I've been swimming in 80 degree ocean water while staring up at a snow capped mountain in Hawaii, something impossible in CA. You're not going to find the diversity that can be found in Hawaii in a similar sized area anywhere in the US and possibly the world and certainly not in CA.

[S.D. Calif]

Originally Posted by Spade

There isn't a state where it's land is diverse as California. Texas and New York battle for second place though. But California wins this one.

I would think of Colorado, Washington, Alaska, and Arizona before I thought of New York. Most people would.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by AlGreen

Texas starts in the eastern US and ends up all the way in the southwest.

Do people really consider TX eastern? Ohio (the same longitude as Florida) is far more east than TX, but people always lump Ohio in with the "MidWest," which I always found funny. I grew up in Ohio, and you'd drive a few hours, and all of a sudden be "in the east" (according to some people) because you crossed some arbitrary boundary (the NY or PA state borders).

My feeling is, if you're in the Eastern timezone, you're in the East, but after that it starts to get murky...I don't see TX as Eastern at all (especially since it's west of the Mississippi river), but then again, others might disagree (obviously).

I don't mean to pick on this as I'm sure you didn't mean anything by it, but I am generally curious what people think about this as I think the whole geographic breakdown of the US into regions makes very little sense sometimes...

In terms of geographical diversity, though, TX definitely has a lot. Not as much as CA, but certainly a good amount. The top states for this, in my opinion, would be something like this:

CA, WA/OR, TX, AK...possibly CO, WY, MT...then it gets tricky after that to rank them as most states don't encompass as much land (and geographical regions). HI does have some interesting diversity, especially considering how small the islands are relative to other states, but I see more climatic diversity than I do overall geographical diversity, so I'm not sure where to rank it.

[Newsboy]

Whoever said Florida is diverse has never been to Florida. I live on the Georgia coast and I have to remind myself that this state has mountains nearly 5,000 feet high and the highest waterfalls of any state east of the Mississippi River ... just saying. I think the highest point in Florida is 350 feet LOL!