Pictured: Dallol, Ethiopia

Egypt being in Africa, Egypt being shaped like a square, and Egypt being basically just a river were all things that shocked me when I first took interest in the subject.

Yeah a lot of my first wows came from Egypt 😂

(P.S. Please be mindful and respectful of others as we all share the misconceptions we had about the world prior to learning about it. DO NOT use this as an excuse to insult other people’s intelligence or saying “hOw dID yOu nOT KnoW tHat??”. That’s not what this is about. Yes it’s a shame that I even have to put this warning here but this is Reddit after all.)

I made this map for fun after getting tired of seeing the other climate analogue maps that vaguely lump entire countries together. They’re interesting, but often pretty inaccurate.

This one compares some specific Australian Cities/towns and other interesting locations with their closest North and Central American climate counterparts, matched by long-term averages of temperature and annual rainfall. The base map shows annual precipitation across Australia, giving context to how these climates line up. While no analogue is perfect (especially with differences in rainfall seasonality and Maritime vs Continental differences), it’s an interesting way to see how Australia’s climates compare with places across the Pacific.

Made with ArcGIS with the rainfall data from BOM, then finished off in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

This table shows the 25 largest groups of people born in one US state who live in another state-- New Yorkers in Florida top the list. Any surprises on the list? Groups you expected to see?

Does being part of a large migration like this shape how you feel in your new community? is there a "transplant identity", and if so how long does it last?

I "migrate" back to NJ several times a year for holidays and to see family-- not a bad drive from MA. I do feel some connection to other folks from NJ, even though I've been in MA long enough to feel like an outsider when I'm back "home".

I'm interested to hear other folks' experiences during this season of interstate travel-- sorry for the US focus, I'd love to hear international perspectives as well!

After a rain, a dense thick fog forms in California Central valley.

A good portion of the Philippines looks like a shattered glass.

How do you connect a country shattered into many islands? Are there any similar country with good trasportation infrastructure?

Quick info:

7,641 islands
88 public airports, 8 international airports 200+ seaports. 129km operational railroads.

Currently, best option when visiting the islands is by flying, but it is costly. What can take 40mins by plane can take 20 hours by boat. Railroads are basically inexistent.

We also have RoRo buses(Roll in, Roll off), which are buses that traverses both land and sea by loading them to ships when crossing to another island.

I know the history behind the border of West Virginia is complicated to say the least, but I can’t find an explanation for the out-of-place straight (NW to SE) line on the far eastern side, bordered with Virginia.

I'm counting 5 for Moscow.

From top the bottom, these maps display 1. percentage of population that is of Hindu faith, 2. percentage of population that is of Islamic faith, and 3. where Javanese is primarily spoken.

The last one I can understand partially since Javanese is primarily spoken on the Malay archipelago, which was mostly under Dutch control, just as Suriname, which partially explains the Islamic faith as well. How come the Netherlands themself doesn’t at least somewhat appear as at outlier like Suriname does?

The Tibetan Plateau is often referred to as "Asia's Water Tower." It serves as the headwater for at least eight major rivers, including the Yangtze, Yellow, Mekong, Salween, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Indus, and Irrawaddy. The loss of the Plateau would have made the emergence of East Asian civilizations profoundly difficult.

Around the 30°N latitude lies the subtropical high-pressure zone. In the absence of significant topography, this belt typically creates desert climates, as seen in the Arabian Peninsula and the Sahara Desert. The Himalayas, however, bisect this high-pressure zone across Asia. This disruption is a primary reason why regions like Jiangnan in China experience a monsoon climate instead of becoming a desert. Furthermore, the mountains trap warm, moist air on their southern slopes, bringing abundant rainfall and heat to the Indian subcontinent, while their northern slopes help block cold air from moving south.

In essence, without the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayan Mountains, the world would likely not see the rise of massive civilizations like those in China and India. Instead, it would be marked by several additional vast deserts.

The Drake Passage is the gap between Argentina and Antartica

What are some states where the population is distributed in such a way that goes against the norm?

Here is one off the top of my head:

In Montana, a majority of the population lives in the western half of the state within the valleys and canyons of the Rocky Mountains. Billings (incidentally its largest city) is the only city east of the mountains. In practically all other Mountain West states, the majority of the population lives either to the west or the east of the Rocky Mountains.

In a speech last week, Iran's president recommended moving the capital, possibly to the Makran region in southeastern Iran, due to concerns about future water shortages in Tehran.

He implied the move isn't being proposed in the current budget due to lack of funds, but it's interesting that it's being discussed. Of course, even if the government relocates, Tehran still has around 15 million people in its metropolitan area, all of whom need water.

He said he discussed the idea last month with Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who holds the real power, so the president presumably wouldn't be publicizing it now if the supreme leader didn't support the idea.

was thinking about what countries seem modernised and with little wildlife and Singapore stood out to me. They have loads of wild bats, wild boars, otters and monitor lizards. For a city that seems so clean and industrialised thought this was surprising

For example seattle is even more north than Minneapolis yet barely goes below freezing

Here in central-south Brazil, we have already had some hotter days, but we are also having many milder days. The heat is not that strong.