The Geography of Delaware
Click here for a few definitions.
| Longitude / Latitude |
Longitude: 75° 2' W to 75° 47' W
Latitude: 38° 27' N to 39° 50' N |
|
| Length x Width |
Tiny Delaware, the second smallest state, is only 100 miles long and 30 miles
wide. |
Geographic Center
Explanation |
The
geographic center
of Delaware is located in Kent County, 11 miles SW of Dover, the state capital.
Longitude: 75° 30.7'W
Latitude: 38° 58.8'N |
| Borders |
Delaware is bordered in the north by
Pennsylvania and in the south and west by Maryland.
To the northeast of Delaware, across the Delaware River and Delaware Bay lies New
Jersey. On the east, Delaware is bordered by the
Atlantic Ocean. |
| Total Area |
Delaware covers 2,489 square miles. If it weren't for
Rhode Island, Delaware would be the smallest of the
50 states. |
| Land Area |
1,955 square miles of Delaware are land areas. |
| Water Area |
535 square miles of Delaware are covered by water. |
| Highest Point |
The highest point in Delaware is only 450 feet above sea level;
in a mobile home park
just west of Ebright Road. Ebright
Road is in northern Delaware near the Pennsylvania border. |
| Lowest Point |
The lowest point in Delaware is at the shore where Delaware meets
the Atlantic Ocean; sea level. |
| Mean Elevation |
The Mean Elevation of the state of Delaware is 60 feet above sea level. |
| Major Rivers |
Delaware River,
Mispillion River,
Nanticoke River |
| Major Lakes |
None |
The Land |
|
Delaware shares the Delmarva
Peninsula with parts of Maryland and Virginia.
Delaware's small size doesn't leave much room for major or varied land forms and most
of the state lies on a low, flat coastal plain. In general, Delaware slopes down from
a piedmont plateau in the north to a near sea level coastal plain in the east and south.
Delaware is situated such that it is part of two major land regions; the Atlantic Coastal
Plain and the Piedmont.
Atlantic Coastal Plain: The
Atlantic Plain
runs over 2,200 miles from Cape Cod along the eastern seaboard of the United States and around the
Gulf of Mexico to the Mexico border. Except for a small area in the north, most of
Delaware's land area is part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. This land is flat and not very
high. It rarely reaches more than 80 feet above sea level. The southern boundary of
Delaware is swampland; 30,000 acres of swamp!
Piedmont: The Piedmont stretches from New Jersey south to
Alabama. Crossing the northern edge of
Delaware, the Piedmont is about 10 miles wide at its widest point within the state. The Piedmont is marked
by rolling hills. The highest point in Delaware, located near
Ebright Road,
is located in the Piedmont region.
( Delaware Close-up ) |
| Climate (All temperatures Fahrenheit) |
| Highest Temperature |
The highest temperature recorded in Delaware is 110°, Fahrenheit. This record high
was recorded on July 21, 1930 at Millsboro. |
| Lowest Temperature |
The lowest temperature marked in Delaware, -17°, was recorded on January 17,
1893, also at Millsboro. |
| Average Temperature |
Monthly average temperatures range from a high of 85.6 degrees to a low of 23.2 degrees. |
| Climate |
Average yearly precipitation for Delaware, from 1971 to 2000, is shown on
this chart from Oregon State University. |
|
