This article is about a geographic region in the United States. For the High Plains of Victoria and New South Wales, Australia, see High Plains (Australia). For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The High Plains of South-Eastern Australia are a region or more strictly a string of adjacent areas in and adjacent to the Great Dividing Range.

High Plains in Northeastern Colorado

The High Plains are a subregion of the Great Plains in the central United States, located in eastern Colorado, western Kansas, western Nebraska, central and eastern Montana, eastern New Mexico, western Oklahoma, northwestern Texas, and southeastern Wyoming. The Great Plains are the broad expanse of Prairie and Steppe which lie east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. Kansas ( is a Midwestern state in the central region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the American " Nebraska ( is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States and Montana ( is a state in the Western United States. One-third of the state in the western part contains numerous mountain ranges (approximately 77 named of the northern New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. Oklahoma ( is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. The State of Wyoming ( is a sparsely populated state in the western region of the United States. In some definitions of the subregion, parts of western South Dakota and North Dakota are included. South Dakota ( is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America. North Dakota ( is a state located in the Midwestern and Western regions of the United States of America. From east to west, the High Plains rise in elevation from around 750 m (2500 ft) to over 1800 m (6000 ft).

The High Plains are semiarid, receiving between 250–500 mm (10–20 in) of precipitation annually. A Semi-arid climate or steppe climate generally describes climatic regions that receive low annual Rainfall (250-500 mm or 10-20 in Shortgrass prairie, prickly pear cacti and scrub vegetation cover the region, with occasional buttes or other rocky outcrops. The shortgrass prairie Ecosystem of the North American Great Plains is a Prairie that formerly encompassed lands from the eastern foothills of the Scrubland is a Plant community characterized by scrub Vegetation. A butte (bjut is an isolated Hill with steep often vertical sides and a small flat top smaller than Mesas Plateaus and tables In some Agriculture in the forms of cattle ranching and the growing of wheat, cotton and sunflowers is the primary economic activity in the region. Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domesticated Ungulates a member of the Subfamily Bovinae of the family A ranch is an area of landscape including various structures given primarily to the practice of ranching the practice of raising grazing livestock such as Cattle Wheat ( Triticum spp is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Levant area of the Middle East. Cotton is a soft staple Fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant ( Gossypium sp The sunflower ( Helianthus annuus) is an Annual plant in the family Asteraceae and native to the Americas, with a large flowering The aridity of the region necessitates either dryland farming methods or irrigation; much water for irrigation is drawn from the underlying Ogallala Aquifer. The Ogallala Aquifer, also known as the High Plains Aquifer, is a vast yet shallow underground Water table Aquifer located beneath the Great Plains Some areas have significant petroleum and natural gas deposits. Petroleum ( L petroleum, from Greek πετρέλαιον, lit Natural gas is a Gaseous Fossil fuel consisting primarily of Methane but including significant quantities of Ethane, Propane,

The High Plains has one of the lowest population densities of any region in the continental United States; Wyoming, for example, has the second lowest population density in the country before Alaska. The State of Wyoming ( is a sparsely populated state in the western region of the United States. Population density (in agriculture standing stock and Standing crop) is a measurement of Population per unit area or unit volume Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent In contrast to the rather low and stagnant population in northern and western High Plains, cities in west Texas have shown sustained growth. West Texas is a region in Texas that has more in common geographically with the Southwestern United States than it does with the rest of the state Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas both exceed populations of 200,000. Smaller towns often struggle to sustain their population.

Due to low moisture and high elevation, the High Plains commonly experiences wide ranges and extremes in temperature. The temperature range from day to night commonly exceeds 15 degrees Celsius, and 24-hour temperature shifts of 20 to 25 degrees Celsius are not unknown. The Celsius Temperature scale was previously known as the centigrade scale. The region is known for the steady, and sometimes intense, winds that prevail from the west. The winds add a considerable wind chill factor in the winter. This page is for the movie "Wind Chill" For the term see Wind chill. The development of wind farms in the High Plains is one of the newest areas of economic development.

The combination of oil, natural gas, and wind energy along with plentiful underground water, has allowed some areas (such as west Texas) to sustain a range of economic activity, including occasional industry. For example, the Asarco refinery in Amarillo, Texas has been in operation since 1924 due to the plentiful and inexpensive natural gas and water that are needed in metal ore refining.

External links

• High Plains Regional Climate Center High Plains climatological resources
• High Plains information - U. S. Department of the Interior (with map)

See also

• Llano Estacado
• Steppe
• Butte
• Ogallala Aquifer, a large aquifer underlying a significant part of this region, which has made it possible to grow many water-intensive crops (most notably cotton) that the region's aridity would otherwise not support

References