WELCOME TO THE SOUTHWEST America's Southwest has many great views The grasslands of the Great Plains range from Oklahoma to Texas Wheat corn and cotton grow on this flat fertile land Sandy deserts high plateaus and deep canyons cover New Mexico and Arizona The Southwest covers approximately 564 700 square miles 907 670 sq km It includes four US states Three of these states were the last ones added to the contiguous Arizona's Monument Valley is one of the Southwest's many beautiful landscapes
CHANGES IN THE AIR United States But this land has a history much older than that of the nation itself Native American tribes have The dry climate of the Southwest is becoming even drier Low pressure air patterns in the North Pacific Ocean bring needed rain But they have started to happen less often In recent years high pressure patterns have been more common This change has brought much less rain It has caused droughts lived in this region for thousands of years THE SOUTHWESTERN CLIMATE The Southwest is the hottest and driest region in the United States The average high temperature of Tucson Arizona is 83 degrees Fahrenheit 28°C It gets an average rainfall of only 11 6 inches 29 5 cm per year But not all parts of the Southwest are sunny all the time It rains a lot in eastern Texas and Oklahoma The city of Lufkin Texas gets an average of 49 inches 124 cm of rainfall each year Severe thunderstorms are common in these areas Tornadoes happen there too
THE SOUTHWEST REGION Santa Fe Oklahoma City ARIZONA Phoenix OKLAHOMA NEW MEXICO Colorado River Tucson Dallas TEXAS Houston Austin Rio Grande River MEXICO GULF OF MEXICO Chapter One discusses the size of the states in the Southwest region This map shows the area's cities vast deserts and long rivers Does this map match your understanding of the region from the text Why or why not SOUTHWEST CITIES AND TOWNS More than 31 million people live in the Southwest The largest city is Houston Texas Other large cities include Phoenix Arizona Albuquerque New Mexico and Oklahoma City Oklahoma Many of the Southwest's towns have a lot of history and culture German and Austrian pioneers settled in
