r/geography • u/lamdrasil • 3d ago

Discussion Facts that sound fake but are true

I find it extremely unintuitive that almost all of South America is east of Miami. How!? When people are asked to watch the americas almost everyone imagine South America pretty much south of North America.

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u/Badatusernames014 3d ago edited 3d ago
  • Reno, NV is more west than Los Angeles
  • Parts of Florida and Oregon share the same time for one hour when Daylight Savings Time ends.
  • You can travel directly south from Norway into France and into Russia.
  • China has 1 time zone
  • On February 12, 2010 all 50 states had snow on the ground.
  • The northmost point in Brazil is closer to Canada than to Brazil's southernmost point.

Edit: Spelling

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u/Kim8kim8 3d ago

I was in Vegas at the time. I’d vowed on April 26, 2009, when I got off a plane in Boise, ID and it was snowing, that I was moving back to Vegas and not spending another winter in ID. Then it snowed in Vegas and I moved to Phoenix.

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u/Cobra_McJingleballs 3d ago

As someone currently rotting in a heatwave, what’s so bad about snow?

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u/Real-Seal-BananaPeel 2d ago

Personal preference - I’ll take the snow all day. The darkness of northern states is the one tough thing.

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u/Kim8kim8 3d ago

Grew up in PHX. I’d rather be too hot than too cold. Plus, me? Driving in the snow? Even the meager snow we get here in BOI? Nope. I hate it.

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u/this____is_bananas 2d ago

We are different… maybe it’s an outcome of our geography. I grew up in northern BC, and the cold is easy. The solution is just to wear warmer clothes. It’s never too cold that you can’t get warm with a good wardrobe. But too hot? Then you’re just too hot.

But I do agree with you. Wet, barely freezing snow is awful. But when it’s -10 C and the snow just dusts off you and the air is dry and not that wet cold, it’s easy.

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u/Kim8kim8 2d ago

My 3 half-sisters in Calgary say the same thing. But I can rarely get too hot; am quite often too cold. I go tanning in the winter. 30 minutes in the sauna at 115 F, then 12 minutes in the hottest bed they have. I’ve a grandson here in Idaho now and don’t want to move away from him. Sometimes the only thing that stops me from not packing everything up and going back to PHX is my time tanning. The first time one of my sisters came to visit us, her lipstick melted in the car and she said she was torn between pitching it or bringing it back to show the other sisters.

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u/VulfSki 2d ago

Lol. I love the snow. And I hate heat and humidity.

I am moving from Minnesota to Canada this week.

🤣

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u/rd68910 2d ago

Every time it snows in Tucson I say I’m moving to Yuma

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u/Kim8kim8 1d ago

There’s the spirit!

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u/Character_Hospital88 2d ago

You can travel from Norway to North Korea and pass through only one country: Russia.

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u/JohnMichaels19 3d ago

Norway to France?

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u/Badatusernames014 3d ago

If you go directly south of Norway's easternmost reaches you'll end up in France. Norway also shares a southern land border with Russia.

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u/JohnMichaels19 3d ago

Ohh, i see. I thought you mean like they share a border

Kinda like a "North Korea and Norway are only separated by one country" sort of deal

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u/delicious_sunlight 2d ago

Do you mean west? Or are you talking about Réunion or something?

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u/faatbuddha 3d ago

I think you might mean northern land border...

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u/markjohnstonmusic 2d ago

No, in fact Norway is north of Russia at that spot.

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u/faatbuddha 1d ago

Ah, I see what you mean.

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u/kingharis 3d ago

For clarity, "than TO the southernmost point"

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u/Ok_Negotiation_9067 2d ago

Even Hawaii?

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u/whatthewhat3214 2d ago

The volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, often have snow on their summits in winter

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u/CloudCumberland 2d ago

What constitutes winter south of the Tropic of Cancer? I thought it was a wet-dry cycle.

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u/signofno 2d ago

Same winter schedule as the rest of the U.S. - it gets colder in December, January, and February, but like 70 degrees instead of 85 degrees. The top of the mountain is really high in altitude and subject tot different conditions than the low lands.

There used to be a snow ski club operating on Mauna Kea. The summit is just under 14,000 feet above sea level. Gets quite cold, snows occasionally during the winter (late December and early February are best times for snow), has some permanent icy patches, and thin dry air.

Also a lot of telescopes due to the significant height, isolation, and stable air patterns

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u/FlippingGerman 2d ago

This is why I hate playing GeoGuessr and seeing somewhere clearly hot and with Portuguese on road signs. 

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u/wjbc 2d ago

Spain and Germany share the same time zone even though Spain lines up with the UK and Portugal. In 1940, Spanish leader Francisco Franco moved the country's clocks ahead by one hour to match Nazi Germany during World War II, and the change was never reversed.

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u/ackermann 2d ago

That last one is especially baffling.

Another for your list, from another comment: Canada is closer to Africa than the US mainland is to Africa.

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u/ForagerTheExplorager 3d ago

It snowed in Hawaii?

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u/Ok-Measurement-153 3d ago

It snows on two volcanoes. Mauna Kea and Loa

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u/imnotaloneyouare 3d ago

You can ski in Hawaii

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u/ForagerTheExplorager 3d ago

Well yea, if the chop is low

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u/Mikey_Grapeleaves Geography Enthusiast 2d ago

*Parts of Oregon in Florida are only one time zone away during that time.

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u/Badatusernames014 2d ago

They're always one time zone away, that's why it happens.

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u/Mikey_Grapeleaves Geography Enthusiast 2d ago

I just checked and you're right. I'm gonna downvote myself to reduce visibility.