This is true? - Geographic oddities that defy conventional wisdom

[Poiponen13]

I found this out some days ago:


The northernmost point of New Zealand is further north than the southernmost point of South Africa, meaning that there is a part of New Zealand further north than a part of South Africa.

Expected. I've always imagined them to be about equal in latitude.

Do any of you have imagined Europe to be further south than it actually is?

[jlam]

Do any of you have imagined Europe to be further south than it actually is?

Literally everybody. I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere else in this very thread.

[thspfc]

Do any of you have imagined Europe to be further south than it actually is?

Literally everybody. I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere else in this very thread.

I'm fully aware that Europe is on average further north than the US, but it still seems impossible, especially considering the climate and topography. There are literally palm trees in London (not a lot of them and they're not native, but they survive). At the same latitude as Canadian wilderness.

Along those lines, it's also weird that North Dakota is further north than almost all of Wisconsin, and if you drew a line directly west from Madison, that line would run just 3 miles north of the South Dakota/Nebraska border. The topography of the Dakotas is more similar to Illinois or Iowa than it is to Wisconsin or eastern Minnesota.

One more: not sure if anyone else finds this weird, but Milwaukee is directly across the lake from Grand Rapids. I always thought of WI and the lower peninsula being level with each other because they're so similar topographically, and Grand Rapids being in central Michigan.

[Chris]

Do any of you have imagined Europe to be further south than it actually is?

Literally everybody. I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere else in this very thread.

This goes both ways. New York is at the same latitude as Madrid while in people's mind it's more like London.

The 49th parallel is similar to Paris.

Southern Scandinavia doesn't always get a longer lasting snow cover in the winter, while being at the same latitude as the northern reaches of the Canadian provinces.

Another interesting feature of Norway are so-called 'tropical nights', where temperatures don't drop below 20°C (68°F). This can occur very far north, this month it occurred in Hammerfest which is at 70°40N, similar to Prudhoe Bay or northern Nunavut.

These tropical nights occur fairly regularly north of the arctic circle in Norway. The sun doesn't set so if it's sunny it stays warm overnight. Especially in valleys but also along the coast if there is no sea breeze.

[JayhawkCO]

I thought this map was interesting. The closest foreign country to every spot in the 50 states.



And then for the populated territories:
Puerto Rico split with U.K. and Dominican Republic
U.S. Virgin Islands is all U.K.
American Samoa is Samoa
Guam & Northern Marianas Islands are Micronesia

I think it's interesting that central Alabama is closer to Canada than any other country, and I didn't really realize that Mobile would be closest to Cuba.

[hotdogPi]

I just checked Bermuda. It's about 75 miles too far out to be the closest on the Outer Banks.

[formulanone]

I thought this map was interesting. The closest foreign country to every spot in the 50 states.



And then for the territories:
Puerto Rico split with U.K. and Dominican Republic
U.S. Virgin Islands is all U.K.
American Samoa is Samoa
Guam & Northern Marianas Islands are Micronesia

I think it's interesting that central Alabama is closer to Canada than any other country, and I didn't really realize that Mobile would be closest to Cuba.

Weird new marketing angle for Alabama.travel now available...

A few weeks ago, I discovered there's only a 10 mile difference in a drive from my home to Quebec's borders and Tamaulipas. Obviously, the transit through Detroit/Windsor is closer but I'd never been to Quebec, so it was an interesting exercise. 

[MATraveler128]

I've always found it interesting that the southernmost tip of Canada is at the same latitude as California.

[Chris]

St. John's, Newfoundland is closer to both Algiers and Dakar than it is to Vancouver.

In fact, the range of 5,000 kilometers to Vancouver also equates the distance of St. John's to Brazil, Panama, Senegal and Mali.

[Road Hog]

I think the U.K. examples above take into account Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands, which are still overseas territories.

[ethanhopkin14]

I've always found it interesting that the southernmost tip of Canada is at the same latitude as California.

And further south than parts of Nevada and Utah. 

[JayhawkCO]

I think the U.K. examples above take into account Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands, which are still overseas territories.

For the territories I listed, yeah. Bermuda is never the closest, but BVI is closest to parts of Puerto Rico and all of USVI.

[thspfc]

I've always found it interesting that the southernmost tip of Canada is at the same latitude as California.

If I was to take the fastest route from home to the Canadian border, my first ~80 miles of driving would be due south.

[Poiponen13]

Regarding to sunrise and sunset time oddities:
The westernmost part of Russia near the Finnish border, has sunrise and sunset times off the normal. They are in UTC+3, but should be in UTC+2 by longitude, and some are even west of 30'E, the central meridian of UTC+2. Thus, may places, including St. Petersburg, have sunrise after 10:00 at winter solstice.

[pianocello]

One more: not sure if anyone else finds this weird, but Milwaukee is directly across the lake from Grand Rapids. I always thought of WI and the lower peninsula being level with each other because they're so similar topographically, and Grand Rapids being in central Michigan.

I think knowing that a ferry goes from Milwaukee to Muskegon (the "port city" of GR) pushes this closer to conventional wisdom.

Although I bet the weirdness is more common with people that aren't super familiar with the Chicago area. After all, the whole Chicagoland region is basically just the NE corner of Illinois and the NW corner of Indiana, but the northern boundaries of the two states are about 50 miles apart.

[dvferyance]

Ironwood, MI is 75 miles closer to Minneapolis than it is to the Mackinac Bridge. It's also only 75 miles closer to Ohio than it is to Montana.

The first isn't that surprising since Ironwood is only about 100 miles from Duluth.

[webny99]

Pennsylvania reaches further north than Connecticut.  This always felt counterintuitive to me.

Relatedly, PA is either due south or due west of NY depending on where you are in NY. From NYC, it's not only west, but also west of Jersey - in other words, it might as well be another planet. But from much of upstate NY, it's 1-2 hours due south, so to us, Scranton and the I-380/I-80 corridor through the Poconos could be part of a trip to NYC and feel distinctly within NYC's sphere of influence relative to home. Just goes to show how far apart/culturally distinct upstate NY is from NYC.

[webny99]

Since this came up in another thread, Baltimore and Philadelphia are nearly equidistant from Ocean City, MD. (147 miles vs 151 miles)

Baltimore is a bit closer as the crow flies, but it's comparable by road because US 50 takes an indirect routing over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and south to Cambridge before turning east.

[bm7]

Tokyo is the same distance from Mumbai as it is from Greenland.

[Rothman]

Tokyo is the same distance from Mumbai as it is from Greenland.

How are you measuring this?

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Probably the same way I determined Hamlin, Maine is closer to Cape Touriñan (Westernmost point in mainland Spain) than to Point Conception in California: by using the measurement tool in Google Maps.

[CtrlAltDel]

Tokyo is the same distance from Mumbai as it is from Greenland.

How are you measuring this?

Not to speak for bm7, but it's relatively easy to do on Google Earth.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Average people in their daily lives think of the Earth as a two-dimensional object when it comes from going to points A to B (which isn't helped by your standard maps that are unable to account for 3D).

[bm7]

Tokyo is the same distance from Mumbai as it is from Greenland.

How are you measuring this?

Not to speak for bm7, but it's relatively easy to do on Google Earth.

Yes, that's what I did.

[Poiponen13]

Do you know that in low latitudes which use DST, latest sunrise actually happens on day before DST ends, rather than around winter solstice? This is one of the things beacuse of which low latitudes should not use DST.