Editing Geography of the United States (section)

===Extremes===
{{see also|U.S. state temperature extremes}}
[[File:Fagatogo Dock.jpg|thumb|[[Pago Pago Harbor]] in [[American Samoa]] has the highest annual rainfall of any harbor in the world.<ref name="LonelyplanetAS">{{cite web|url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/american-samoa/tutuila/attractions/rainmaker-mountain/a/poi-sig/1456093/362248|author=Lonely Planet|title=Rainmaker Mountain in Tutuila|website=Lonely Planet|access-date=September 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019004653/https://www.lonelyplanet.com/american-samoa/tutuila/attractions/rainmaker-mountain/a/poi-sig/1456093/362248|archive-date=October 19, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
In northern [[Alaska]], [[tundra]] and [[arctic]] conditions predominate, and the temperature has fallen as low as {{convert|-80|°F|1}}.<ref>Williams, Jack [https://www.usatoday.com/weather/wcstates.htm Each state's low temperature record], ''USA today'', ''URL accessed 13 June 2006.''</ref> On the other end of the spectrum, [[Death Valley National Park|Death Valley, California]] once reached {{convert|134|°F|1}}, the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.<ref name="Death_Valley">{{cite web | url = http://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/upload/Weather.pdf | title = Weather and Climate | access-date = October 5, 2006 |date=January 2002 | work = Official website for Death Valley National Park | publisher = National Park Service U. S. Department of the Interior | pages = 1–2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_956_en.html |title=WMO Press release No. 956 |date=September 13, 2012 |publisher=World Meteorological Organization |access-date=April 10, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406053728/http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_956_en.html |archive-date=April 6, 2016 }}</ref>

On average, the mountains of the western states receive the highest levels of snowfall on Earth. The greatest annual snowfall level is at [[Mount Rainier]] in [[Washington (state)|Washington]], at {{convert|692|in|cm|0}}; the record there was {{convert|1122|in|cm|0}} in the winter of 1971–72. This record was broken by the Mt. Baker Ski Area in northwestern Washington which reported {{convert|1140|in|cm|0}} of snowfall for the 1998–99 snowfall season. Other places with significant snowfall outside the Cascade Range are the [[Wasatch Mountains]] in [[Utah]], the [[San Juan Mountains]] in [[Colorado]], and the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] in [[California]].

In the east, the region near the Great Lakes and the mountains of the Northeast receive the most snowfall, although they do not near snowfall levels in the western United States. Along the northwestern Pacific coast, rainfall is greater than anywhere else in the continental U.S., with [[Quinault Rainforest]] in Washington having an average of {{convert|137|in|cm|0}}.<ref>National Atlas, [http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mld/prism0p.html Average Annual Precipitation, 1961–1990] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928220607/http://nationalatlas.gov/mld/prism0p.html |date=2006-09-28 }}, ''URL accessed 15 June 2006.''</ref> Hawaii receives even more, with {{convert|404|in|cm|0}} measured annually in the [[Big Bog, Maui|Big Bog]], in [[Maui]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/36675| title = ScholarSpace at University of Hawaii at Manoa: Climatology of Haleakalā| date = July 2015| hdl = 10125/36675| last1 = Longman| first1 = Ryan J.| last2 = Giambelluca| first2 = Thomas W.| last3 = Nullet| first3 = Michael A.| last4 = Loope| first4 = Lloyd L.}} R.J. Longman and T.W. Giambelluca. Climatology of Haleakala. Climatology of Haleakalā Technical Report No. 193. Volume 1, Issue 1. Pages 105–106. 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2019.</ref> [[Pago Pago Harbor]] in [[American Samoa]] is the rainiest harbor in the world (because of the 523 meter [[Rainmaker Mountain]]).<ref name="LonelyplanetAS"/> The [[Mojave Desert]], in the southwest, is home to the driest locale in the U.S. [[Yuma, Arizona]], has an average of {{convert|2.63|in|cm}} of [[precipitation (meteorology)|precipitation]] each year.<ref>Hereford, Richard, et al., [http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs117-03/ Precipitation History of the Mojave Desert Region, 1893–2001], ''U.S. Geological Survey, Fact Sheet 117-03'', ''URL accessed 13 June 2006.''</ref>

In central portions of the U.S., [[tornado]]es are more common than anywhere else on Earth<ref>NOVA, [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tornado/country.html Tornado Heaven], ''Hunt for the Supertwister'', ''URL accessed 15 June 2006.''</ref> and touch down most commonly in the spring and summer. Deadly and destructive [[hurricane]]s occur almost every year along the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico. The Appalachian region and the Midwest experience the worst floods, though virtually no area in the U.S. is immune to flooding. The Southwest has the worst droughts; one is thought to have lasted over 500 years and to have hurt [[Ancestral Pueblo peoples]].<ref>O'Connor, Jim E. and John E. Costa, [http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/2003/circ1245/ Large Floods in the United States: Where Thley Happen and Why], ''U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1245'', ''URL accessed 13 June 2006.''</ref> The West is affected by large wildfires each year.