North Dakota Geography

North Dakota is bounded on the north by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, on the west by Montana, on the south by South Dakota, and on the east by Minnesota.

Western North Dakota is home to the hilly Great Plains and the northern part of the Badlands. This area contains White Butte, the highest point in the state, and Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This region is also home to several natural resources including crude oil and lignite coal. The Missouri River flows through western North Dakota and forms Lake Sakakawea, the third largest man-made lake in the United States, behind the Garrison Dam.

Central North Dakota has the Drift Prairie and the Missouri Plateau. This area is covered in lakes, stream valleys, and rolling hills. The Turtle Mountains rise above the Drift Prairie along the Manitoba border. The geographic center of the North American continent is located near the city of Rugby.

Eastern North Dakota is home to the flat Red River Valley, the bottom of glacial Lake Agassiz. Today, it is rich farmland drained by the meandering Red River, which flows northward into Lake Winnipeg. Farms and small towns dot the landscape of eastern North Dakota. Devil's Lake, the largest natural lake in the state, is also found in the east.

There are 53 counties within North Dakota. Every incorporated place in the state of North Dakota is classified as a city. There are no villages, towns, or hamlets.

Areas under management of the National Park Service include:

• Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site near Williston
• Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site near Stanton
• Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
• North Country National Scenic Trail
• Theodore Roosevelt National Park near Medora and Watford City

North Dakota is a prime example of a continental climate — it is distant from major bodies of water that would otherwise serve to moderate the weather. Because of this, the climate of North Dakota can range from sweltering heat and humidity in the summers to bitter cold in the winters. Competing warm air masses from the Gulf of Mexico and cold air masses from the Arctic regions often produce strong winds as they move in and out of the region.

In the summer, the clash of Arctic and tropic systems occasionally leads to thunderstorms with the state averaging around 20-40 days of thunderstorm activity per year. When thunderstorms occur they can be very strong, often leading to hail and sometimes tornadoes. Tornadoes are not rare in North Dakota, although they are most likely to occur in the southeast quarter of the state. In the winter, the weather tends to be more stable — cold and dry, with occasional flurries — though the constant wind can create blowing snow at any time of the season. Severe snowstorms — some of which are classified as blizzards — tend to occur late in the fall or early in the spring.

Springtime flooding is a relatively common event in the Red River Valley. The best known and most destructive flood in eastern North Dakota was the Flood of 1997. This flood devastated much of the Valley and caused unprecedented damage in the city of Grand Forks.

Map of North Dakota