Physical Features
Unit 2 - Community Geography
Physical Features, Natural Resources, and Climate
Historical Photos courtesy of Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer
The city of Grand Island, NE is located in the midwest region of the United States. Grand Island is about 86 miles from the geographical center of the lower 48 contiguous states of the United States. What do you know about the geography of the midwest?
Grand Island is located in the Platte River Valley. The Platte River near Grand Island is shallow and has many channels with many islands of different sizes. The flat land that Grand Island is built on is called plains. Plains have mostly flat land covered with grass and a only a few trees. The most important geographic features of Grand Island are the river and the plains.
The climate in Grand Island is usually much different for each season. In winter the cold wind makes you feel like you stepped into a deep freeze. In the spring the birds start cheeping and the flowers start to bloom as the ground and trees start to turn green. Summertime is hot and sometimes stormy. In the fall, the leaves change from yellow to red and fall from the trees as the weather gets cooler.
Grand Island's long growing season help the crops like corn and soy beans grow. Our most important natural resources are soil and water. The soil makes it possible to grow many healthy crops year after year. In many parts of the United States people can't dig down and find water. But in Nebraska, we live above a very big supply of water.
Sometimes it's called an underground lake but you can't fall in because the water is around and between small rocks. This underground water supply is called the Ogallala Aquifer. At the end of the growing season the water table is very low. What can you do to help save our water supply?
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