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About 100 degrees West. AKA, anywhere it doesn't get reliably humid.
After seeing this on a map, I would agree with you. Seeing as how the Missouri River roughly follows that in the Dakotas, that proves my theory as well. I find geography so interesting. It would have been neat to see this change back before interstate highways existed. Seeing it how the pioneers and Native Americans saw it.
After seeing this on a map, I would agree with you. Seeing as how the Missouri River roughly follows that in the Dakotas, that proves my theory as well. I find geography so interesting. It would have been neat to see this change back before interstate highways existed. Seeing it how the pioneers and Native Americans saw it.
I verified this kind of by accident on a trip through Nebraska once. We left Grand Island, Nebraska, about mid-morning on a summer day. Very green, no hills or mountains in sight, thicker air. I took one last look at the surroundings, went to sleep in the car, and had my wife drive us back towards Denver.
I woke up somewhere west of North Platte. By comparison, things looked dead. It looked like a barren wasteland with comparatively dead looking trees/landscape. It was almost unsightly compared to what we had seen all morning.
Another one. Drive west from Salina, KS to Hays, KS during the summer. Salina will be green, humid, kinda gross feeling. Get to Hays about 90 miles west (which is at 99W actually), and it feels like you've instantly been transported from a steamroom to a sauna, and the landscape becomes treeless!
Given your example, places like Bismarck and Pierre are right in the transition zone. One could make a simple argument that Williston and Rapid City are definitely "West", while Fargo and Sioux Falls probably couldn't be considered "West" by most definitions.
I verified this kind of by accident on a trip through Nebraska once. We left Grand Island, Nebraska, about mid-morning on a summer day. Very green, no hills or mountains in sight, thicker air. I took one last look at the surroundings, went to sleep in the car, and had my wife drive us back towards Denver.
I woke up somewhere west of North Platte. By comparison, things looked dead. It looked like a barren wasteland with comparatively dead looking trees/landscape. It was almost unsightly compared to what we had seen all morning.
Another one. Drive west from Salina, KS to Hays, KS during the summer. Salina will be green, humid, kinda gross feeling. Get to Hays about 90 miles west (which is at 99W actually), and it feels like you've instantly been transported from a steamroom to a sauna, and the landscape becomes treeless!
Given your example, places like Bismarck and Pierre are right in the transition zone. One could make a simple argument that Williston and Rapid City are definitely "West", while Fargo and Sioux Falls probably couldn't be considered "West" by most definitions.
An interesting aside to this. From Oklahoma through the states north US HWY 81 (which in Oklahoma is about 25 miles west of OKC going north and south through the state). I have cut a trail through western Oklahoma pretty much weekly back to points east of HWY 81.
What I have noticed is that west of HWY 81 in the fall and early winter you will find tumbleweeds on occasion. The further west you go in the state the more commonplace they are. However, in my entire life I have never seen a tumbleweed east of HWY 81 in Oklahoma and that includes actually living in places that are not far removed to the east of HWY 81.
Through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas HWY 81 pretty much follows just west of your lines of demarcation for what you described as being eastern.
An interesting aside to this. From Oklahoma through the states north US HWY 81 (which in Oklahoma is about 25 miles west of OKC going north and south through the state). I have cut a trail through western Oklahoma pretty much weekly back to points east of HWY 81.
What I have noticed is that west of HWY 81 in the fall and early winter you will find tumbleweeds on occasion. The further west you go in the state the more commonplace they are. However, in my entire life I have never seen a tumbleweed east of HWY 81 in Oklahoma and that includes actually living in places that are not far removed to the east of HWY 81.
Through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas HWY 81 pretty much follows just west of your lines of demarcation for what you described as being eastern.
Your point generally stands, but highways 183 or 281 are better choices to pick for states further north regarding the demarcation for the transition zone between the Midwest and the West.
Last edited by GraniteStater; 08-12-2017 at 04:04 PM..
Your point generally stands, but highways 183 or 281 are better choices to pick for states further north regarding the demarcation between the transition zone between the Midwest and the West.
Ironically I am typing this from about a mile from HWY 183 right now. Heading to Elk City, Oklahoma.
My demarcation is where I stop seeing tumbleweeds on Oklahoma. I'd be curious where that line is in the states that sit above Oklahoma
Ironically I am typing this from about a mile from HWY 183 right now. Heading to Elk City, Oklahoma.
My demarcation is where I stop seeing tumbleweeds on Oklahoma. I'd be curious where that line is in the states that sit above Oklahoma
States that are further north tend to see lower annual average temperatures compared to Oklahoma, but still have much of the extreme climate characteristics of the Great Plains region. I have seen tumbleweeds by Hays, KS which is right on highway 183, and I would generally agree that areas west of Grand Island, NE have more in common with the West than the Midwest. West of Grand Island, NE to Kearney, NE line most corn is irrigated, not a common feature at all in the Midwest.
Your point generally stands, but highways 183 or 281 are better choices to pick for states further north regarding the demarcation for the transition zone between the Midwest and the West.
More or less, US 281 was going to be my pick as well.
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