Download Geography of the Midwest

sea of grass. That is because the
prairie grasses grew very tall. However,
on the drier Great Plains to the west, the
prairie grasses did not grow as tall.
Today, crops such as corn and
wheat have replaced most of the tall
grass prairies in the Midwest. The fertile
soil that once helped the grasses grow
now helps crops grow.
Geography of
the Midwest
CLIMATE
GREAT
LAKES
GREAT PLAINS
TO
In the Midwest, the climate gets
drier as you move from east to west. As
a result, taller grasses and more trees
grow on the Central Plains than on the
Great Plains.
Fields of corn, wheat, and other
crops are common sights in the
Midwest. The Interior Plains are the
main reason why. These flat, fertile
plains cover the entire Midwest region.
SHAPING THE PLAINS
The Interior Plains formed
thousands of years ago. They took
shape as glaciers pushed south over
North America. As the glaciers moved,
they flattened hills and filled in valleys.
Glaciers also formed the region’s
Great Lakes. They carved out five
huge holes in low areas. Then the
climate warmed. The melted ice from
glaciers slowly filled the holes.
A SEA OF GRASS
As the climate warmed, miles and
miles of prairie were left in the Interior
Plains. A prairie is an area of flat or
rolling land covered mostly with grasses
and wildflowers.
When early settlers saw the
Central Plains, or the eastern part of
the Interior Plains, they described it as a
WINDS FROM THE NORTH
AND SOUTH
The entire region shares some
climate features.
The Midwest is
located far from the oceans. As a result,
strong winds off the oceans cannot
reach the region from the east or west.
However, strong winds blowing
from the north and south do reach the
region. In the summer, warm, moist, air
flows from the Gulf of Mexico. It brings
hot, rainy weather. In winter, cold air
moves south from Canada. It can bring
snowstorms and hailstorms.
THE LAKE EFFECT
DRY TIMES
The Great Lakes affect the areas
that border them. These large bodies of
water absorb heat in summer. They
release this heat in winter. Even so, the
surface of the Great Lakes can freeze in
the coldest months. Also in winter, cold
winds pick up moisture from the lakes.
The moisture causes snowfall to be
heavier in some nearby areas. This
event is known as the “lake effect”.
Droughts are another danger in
the Midwest. A drought is a long period
of little or no rain. In the 1930s, the
southern Great Plains had the worst
drought in the history of the United
States. For nearly ten years, there was
too little rain for farms to grow crops
there.
The drought caused the soil to
dry up. Then strong winds blew the dry
soil away in huge dust storms. These
storms filled homes with dirt and
destroyed farms. The entire area
became known as the Dust Bowl.
Lake Effect
EARTH’S STRONGEST
WINDS
When masses of warm air and
cold air meet over the flat Interior Plains,
tornadoes can form. A tornado is a
funnel-shaped, spinning windstorm.
Tornadoes are common in the
Midwest in spring and summer. They
move over the land quickly, often
destroying everything in their paths. At
the center of some tornadoes, wind
speeds can reach more than 300 miles
per hour!
Dust Bowl
NATURAL RESOURCES
People use most of the Midwest’s
land for farming and ranching. The
Midwest is one of the nation’s major
agriculture regions.
LAND RESOURCES
Tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri in 2012
The climate and soil of the
Central Plains are perfect for growing
crops. Corn has long been an important
crop. In fact, much of the region is
known as the Corn Belt. Farmers there
grow soybeans, too.
In the Great
Plains, the drier climate and harder soil
are good for growing wheat. Most of
this wheat is used to make flour.
Because of this, the Great Plains are
sometimes
called
America’s
breadbasket.
Raising
livestock
is
also
important in the region. On the Central
Plains, farmers raise dairy cows in the
valleys of Wisconsin and Minnesota.
On the Great Plains, ranching is an
important industry.
The
Midwest
has
other
resources, too. In forested areas, such
as South Dakota’s Black Hills, workers
produce lumber. Workers in the region
also mine for minerals. Much of the
nation’s iron ore comes from the
Midwest. Ore is rock that has one or
more kinds of minerals. The region also
has oil. Kansas and Illinois are two of
the top ten oil-producing states.
WATER RESOURCES
The Midwest also has valuable
water resources. People fish in and use
the water from the region’s rivers.
These include the Mississippi, Missouri,
and Illinois Rivers. The Great Lakes
also provide for people’s needs. The
lakes contain nearly one-fifth of the
world’s fresh surface water.