This is true? - Geographic oddities that defy conventional wisdom

[JayhawkCO]

It can also be west of it via a detestable circle.

[tmoore952]

Another oddity: Africa reaches farther from the equator in its northern than southern extreme. Many people associate Africa with Southern Hemisphere.

Algiers is farther north than Nashville.

Along the same idea:
Andorra is further north than Boston
Paris is only 6 minutes of latitude south of Gander, Newfoundland
London UK is at same latitude as Calgary and about the same latitude as the northernmost point of Newfoundland Island

Many people think that the east coast of the US is due west of the UK, but it is really due west of southern France, Spain, and northern Africa.
The Gulf Stream warms the UK which is why the weather there is "nice".

[kphoger]

Andorra is further north than Boston

Whoa!   

[kalvado]

It's the same reason why, when you fly from DC to London ...

It's why, when I flew from Chicago to Warsaw, I could look out the airplane window at the Greenland ice sheet.

ORD-WAW  barely touches Greenland
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=ord-waw
However, transatlantic flights don't fly great circle but follow tracks - which change daily depending on weather - wind, conditions at diversion airports etc.
Some more or less random map representing a random day:

[kalvado]

How about - center of the world is located somewhere in northern Italy
Most of earth land and vast majority of population lives on a hemisphere with the center in Milan:

[kkt]

It's a great circle line going the long way, i.e. 180° opposite the shortest route.

So it is NOT really a great circle, but rather the opposite of a great circle.

What definition of 'great circle' are you going by, that requires it to be the shortest distance between two points on the globe?

A great circle is the intersection of a plane and a sphere (or, in the case of planet Earth, I suppose, an oblate spheroid).  Technically, you'd have to plot a path that circumnavigates the entire globe back to your starting point to fit the true definition of 'great circle'.  But, in common parlance, a portion of that path can also be described as a great circle:  who, though, says it has to be the 'shorter half'?

great circle
noun
: a circle formed on the surface of a sphere by the intersection of a plane that passes through the center of the sphere
specifically : such a circle on the surface of the earth an arc of which connecting two terrestrial points constitutes the shortest distance on the earth's surface between them
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/great%20circle

[kkt]

How about - center of the world is located somewhere in northern Italy
Most of earth land and vast majority of population lives on a hemisphere with the center in Milan:

Interesting.  Why Milan, though?  If you moved the center a few miles south to Rome, it looks like you might be able to catch Buenos Aires and some of the population centers of Indonesia without losing much.

[kalvado]

How about - center of the world is located somewhere in northern Italy
Most of earth land and vast majority of population lives on a hemisphere with the center in Milan:

Interesting.  Why Milan, though?  If you moved the center a few miles south to Rome, it looks like you might be able to catch Buenos Aires and some of the population centers of Indonesia without losing much.

Loosing most of Mexico actually..m

[dlsterner]

There is a creek in the United States that empties into both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.

North Two Ocean Creek is in Wyoming along the Continental Divide (actually in a basin of the Divide).  It splits into two forks - the Atlantic Creek and the Pacific Creek (real original names!)

The Atlantic Creek flows to the Yellowstone River -> Missouri River -> Mississippi River -> Gulf of Mexico
The Pacific creek flows to the Snake River -> Columbia River -> Pacific Ocean.

[Takumi]

Another oddity: Africa reaches farther from the equator in its northern than southern extreme. Many people associate Africa with Southern Hemisphere.

Algiers is farther north than Nashville.

I mentioned it upthread, but the northernmost point of Africa is at the same latitude as Richmond.

[Poiponen13]

This is an unbelievable coincidende:


The most active Pacific typhoon, Pacific hurricane and Atlantic hurricane seasons have occurred in 1964, 1992 and 2020 - that's exactly 28 years apart from the last. The 1964 Pacific typhoon seasons is also the most active tropical cyclone season recorded globally, with 40 named storms.

[Poiponen13]

In Sweden, Umeå is larger than Sundsvall, despite that I have imagined Sundsvall as a number one city in Northern Sweden.

[kalvado]

In Sweden, Umeå is larger than Sundsvall, despite that I have imagined Sundsvall as a number one city in Northern Sweden.

I tried to find those on a map, but I forgot my microscope today.

[kphoger]

In Sweden, Umeå is larger than Sundsvall, despite that I have imagined Sundsvall as a number one city in Northern Sweden.

Conventional wisdom is those beliefs or theories that are commonly held by most people.  I'm not sure how there could be much "conventional wisdom" about places most people have never even heard of.

[hotdogPi]

In Sweden, Umeå is larger than Sundsvall, despite that I have imagined Sundsvall as a number one city in Northern Sweden.

Conventional wisdom is those beliefs or theories that are commonly held by most people.  I'm not sure how there could be much "conventional wisdom" about places most people have never even heard of.

Most people haven't heard of them here. That probably isn't the case in Scandinavia.

[JayhawkCO]

In Sweden, Umeå is larger than Sundsvall, despite that I have imagined Sundsvall as a number one city in Northern Sweden.

Conventional wisdom is those beliefs or theories that are commonly held by most people.  I'm not sure how there could be much "conventional wisdom" about places most people have never even heard of.

Most people haven't heard of them here. That probably isn't the case in Scandinavia.

Or Finland. 

[kphoger]

In Sweden, Umeå is larger than Sundsvall, despite that I have imagined Sundsvall as a number one city in Northern Sweden.

Conventional wisdom is those beliefs or theories that are commonly held by most people.  I'm not sure how there could be much "conventional wisdom" about places most people have never even heard of.

Most people haven't heard of them here. That probably isn't the case in Scandinavia.

When enough of them pop on here to confirm or dispute his assertion that it defies conventional wisdom, let me know.

[kalvado]

In Sweden, Umeå is larger than Sundsvall, despite that I have imagined Sundsvall as a number one city in Northern Sweden.

Conventional wisdom is those beliefs or theories that are commonly held by most people.  I'm not sure how there could be much "conventional wisdom" about places most people have never even heard of.

Most people haven't heard of them here. That probably isn't the case in Scandinavia.

When enough of them pop on here to confirm or dispute his assertion that it defies conventional wisdom, let me know.

But it's against common sense that there are more than 3 cities  in entire Scandinavia.

[GaryV]

In Sweden, Umeå is larger than Sundsvall, despite that I have imagined Sundsvall as a number one city in Northern Sweden.

Conventional wisdom is those beliefs or theories that are commonly held by most people.  I'm not sure how there could be much "conventional wisdom" about places most people have never even heard of.

Most people haven't heard of them here. That probably isn't the case in Scandinavia.

When enough of them pop on here to confirm or dispute his assertion that it defies conventional wisdom, let me know.

But it's against common sense that there are more than 3 cities  in entire Scandinavia.

Ehh, I'll spot you 4 cities, 5 if you're including Denmark.

These "cities" are more in central Sweden than northern - that's the geographic oddity.

But this really should have gone in the POPULATION thread, right?

[kphoger]

But this really should have gone in the POPULATION thread, right?

Yeah, I was going to say so, but I didn't want to be That Guy™.   

[GaryV]

But this really should have gone in the POPULATION thread, right?

Yeah, I was going to say so, but I didn't want to be That Guy™.   

You aren't That Guy if you're responding to "That Other Guy, Finn Edition".

[kphoger]

The westernmost point on the South American continent is farther east than Jacksonville, Florida.

Atlanta, Georgia, is eight miles farther away from Miami, Florida, than it is from Keokuk, Iowa.

[doorknob60]

Despite the similarities in Oregon and Washington's geography (wet on the west, then Cascade Mountains, then drier on the east), there is a huge difference in average elevation of the two states. Washington's mean elevation is 1,700 ft, while Oregon's is significantly higher at 3,300 ft. Source is Wikipedia.

I'm not an expert, but I suspect it's because the Columbia River runs through the middle of the state. So while much of Central/Eastern Oregon is covered in high desert >4000', you don't really see that in Washington, and have a lot more lower river valleys. I knew the Yakima Valley (eg. Yakima and Tri-Cities) was relatively low elevation, but I didn't realize that the whole eastern side of the state is significantly lower than Oregon equivalents. Here are some comparisons:

Wenatchee (780') vs Bend (3623')
Yakima (1066') vs Madras (2242')
Moses Lake (1070') vs Burns (4147')
Omak (843') vs Klamath Falls (4094')
Pullman (2352') vs Enterprise (3753')
Spokane (1843') vs Ontario (2150')

As my travels in Washington haven't taken me to a lot of those places (I've spent plenty of time in the Tri-Cities, Yakima, and Spokane, but haven't spent meaningful time anywhere else east of the Cascades), I didn't realize how low places like Wenatchee were, and always assumed they would more closely align with areas of Oregon, but that's not really the case.

[Road Hog]

Since we're including elevation now, the lowest point in Arkansas is not on the Mississippi River, but on the Ouachita River at the Louisiana border (55').

[pianocello]

Atlanta, Georgia, is eight miles farther away from Miami, Florida, than it is from Keokuk, Iowa.

Going by straight-line distance, Atlanta is closer to Chicago than it is to Miami by about 20 miles.

I became acutely aware of how far north Atlanta is when trying to figure out the feasibility for me to attend any matches in the 2026 World Cup. From Evansville, it's about an hour less driving time to get to Atlanta than to Kansas City, the only midwestern venue.