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
Schulenburg Texas It is home to the Texas Polka Music Museum Broken Bow Oklahoma has many tourist spots such as Broken Bow Lake and the Ouachita National Forest Jerome Arizona has an elevation of 4 948 feet 1 508 m It has the nickname America's Most Vertical City People have enjoyed mineral PERSPECTIVES THE MOST VERTICAL CITY Jerome was a copper mining town It produced more than 3 million pounds 1 36 million kg of copper per month It became a ghost town when the mine closed Artists started living there in the 1960s Today Jerome is home to many artists Watercolor painter Anne Bassett has a gallery in Jerome She says I am enormously proud that people from around the world have told me they came to Jerome after seeing its charm in my drawings hot springs in Jemez Springs New Mexico for almost 4 000 years Peaceful areas and exciting larger cities bring people to the Southwest
STRAIGHT TO THE SOURCE Actor Jim Parsons stars in the television show The Big Bang Theory He is from Houston He explains that Houston is not always the way people picture it I get asked more often than I would imagine questions about what it's like in Houston and several people have asked if there are lots of horses What's funny is I saw more horses in New York than I ever saw in Houston I saw more art in Houston than I ever saw in New York There can be a wrong notion of tumbleweeds and cowboys and there are some but not rolling down Montrose a street in Houston Source Jim Parsons My Houston VisitHouston Greater Houston Convention Visitors Bureau n d Web Accessed July 5 2017 What's the Big Idea Read the primary source above carefully What is the main idea Make a list of two or three details that support this idea
