From Death Valley to Mt.McKinley, North America is a land of extremes.
Count down the 10 weirdest, loneliest, windiest, snowiest, hottest, coldest, driest, wettest, highest and lowest places on the continent.
1. North America’s Weirdest Place
North America fields many candidates for the weird category, but one that will surely make you wonder if you’ve been transported to an alien planet is Fly Geyser located in the westernmost county of Nevada.
This surrealistic structure got its start about a hundred years ago when well drilling opened up an underground reservoir that served as a fresh water source over several decades. During the 1960’s, geothermally heated water filled with minerals started spewing from the site and soon built up a cluster of wildly-colored terraces and mounds that are still growing.
Also known as the “Three Buddhas” after the group of the three largest and most-active cones, Fly Geyser sits on well protected private property but can be seen from a nearby state road.
2. North America’s Loneliest Place
If you’re wondering where to find a spot in North America where you’re least likely to run into another human being you might want to try the Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Yukon Alaska.
Larger and more mountainous than Switzerland, this vast area also boasts half dozen volcanoes and some of the world’s largest glaciers. All in a vast 13 million acre (53,320.57 km2) tract that has about as many roads and people as a small town.
3. North America’s Snowiest Place
The greatest annual snowfall level in North America is at Mount Rainier, Washington, where an average of 692 inches (1,757.68 cm) accumulates every year. The single year record was set during 1971-1972 with 1,122 inches (2849.8 cm) of snow.
The highest mountain in Washington’s Cascade Range, Rainier is also a dangerous stratovolcano that could erupt and set off massive mudflows fueled by the melting of the huge snowfields and glaciers that blanket its slopes.
4. North America’s Wettest Place
HendersonLake on Canada’s south-central Vancouver Island is the rainiest spot in North America with an average precipitation of 6,903 mm (271.8 in). In 1997 it received a record 9,307 mm (366.4 in) of rainfall, the wettest spot on the continent that year and an all-time record for Canada.
The temperate rainforest belt along the Pacific Northwest coast consistently receives more rainfall than any other North American region, although some limited areas within the Costa Rican rainforest may average up to 240 in. (6,100 mm).
5. North America’s Driest Place
With four mountain ranges lying between Death Valley and the ocean, an extreme rain shadow effect makes the Death Valley region the driest spot in North America with only about 1.5 inches (38 mm) of rainfall annually. In some years there is no measurable rainfall at all.
But during the last ice age that ended about 10,000 years ago, glacial melt waters filled the basin of Death Valley with a huge lake that was nearly 100 miles long and 600 feet deep! Today, the ancient lake bed is a barren salt flat known as BadwaterBasin.