Mississippi

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State of Mississippi
Flag of Mississippi Seal Nickname(s): The Magnolia State, The Hospitality State Motto(s): Virtute et armis (By Valor and Arms)
Official language(s)	English
Demonym	Mississippian
Capital	Jackson
Largest city	Jackson
Largest metro area	Jackson metropolitan area
Area	Ranked 32nd in the US
- Total	48,434 sq mi (125,443 km²)
- Width	170 miles (275 km)
- Length	340 miles (545 km)
- % water	3%
- Latitude	30° 12′ N to 35° N
- Longitude	88° 06′ W to 91° 39′ W
Population	Ranked 31st in the US
- Total	2,910,540
- Density	60.7/sq mi  23.42/km² (32nd in the US)
Elevation
- Highest point	Woodall Mountain[1] 806 ft  (246 m)
- Mean	300 ft  (91 m)
- Lowest point	Gulf of Mexico[1] 0 ft  (0 m)
Admission to Union	December 10, 1817 (20th)
Governor	Haley Barbour (R)
Lieutenant Governor	Phil Bryant (R)
U.S. Senators	Thad Cochran (R) Roger Wicker (R)
Congressional Delegation	List
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Abbreviations	MS Miss. US-MS
Website	www.mississippi.gov

Mississippi (IPA: /ˌmɪsəˈsɪpi/) is a state located in the Deep South of the United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River"). The state is heavily forested outside of the Delta area. Its catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of this type consumed in the United States.^[2] The state symbol is the magnolia.

Geography

Mississippi is bordered on the north by Tennessee, on the east by Alabama, on the south by Louisiana and a narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico, and on the west, across the Mississippi River, by Louisiana and Arkansas.

Major rivers in Mississippi, apart from its namesake, include the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Yazoo, the Pascagoula, and the Tombigbee. Major lakes include Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake and Grenada Lake.

Mississippi State Map

The state of Mississippi is entirely composed of lowlands, the highest point being Woodall Mountain, in the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, only 806 feet (246 m) above sea level. The lowest point is sea level at the Gulf coast. The Mean Elevation in the state is 300 feet (91 m) above sea level.

Most of Mississippi is part of the East Gulf Coastal Plain. The Coastal Plain is generally composed of low hills, such as the Pine Hills in the south and the North Central Hills. The Pontotoc Ridge and the Fall Line Hills in the northeast have somewhat higher elevations. Yellow-brown loess soil is found in the western parts of the state. The northeast is a region of fertile black earth that extends into the Alabama Black Belt.

The coastline includes large bays at Bay St. Louis, Biloxi and Pascagoula. It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico proper by the shallow Mississippi Sound, which is partially sheltered by Petit Bois Island, Horn Island, East and West Ship Islands, Deer Island, Round Island and Cat Island.

The northwest remainder of the state is made up of a section of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, also known as the Mississippi Delta. The Mississippi Alluvial Plain is narrow in the south and widens north of Vicksburg. The region has rich soil, partly made up of silt which had been regularly deposited by the floodwaters of the Mississippi River.

Areas under the management of the National Park Service include:^[3]

• Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site near Baldwyn
• Gulf Islands National Seashore
• Natchez National Historical Park in Natchez
• Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail in Tupelo
• Natchez Trace Parkway
• Tupelo National Battlefield in Tupelo
• Vicksburg National Military Park and Cemetery in Vicksburg

Climate

Mississippi has a humid subtropical climate with long summers and short, mild winters. Temperatures average about 82 °F (about 28 °C) in July and about 48 °F (about 9 °C) in January. The temperature varies little statewide in the summer, but in winter the region near Mississippi Sound is significantly warmer than the inland portion of the state. The recorded temperature in Mississippi has ranged from -19 °F (-28.3 °C), in 1966, at Corinth in the northeast, to 115 °F (46.1 °C), in 1930, at Holly Springs in the north. Yearly precipitation generally increases from north to south, with the regions closer to the Gulf being the most humid. Thus, Clarksdale, in the northwest, gets about 50 inches (about 1,270 mm) of precipitation annually and Biloxi, in the south, about 61 inches (about 1,550 mm). Small amounts of snow fall in northern and central Mississippi, although snow is not unheard of around the southern part of the state.

The late summer and fall is the seasonal period of risk for hurricanes moving inland from the Gulf of Mexico, especially in the southern part of the state. Major hurricanes have devastated coastal communities. Hurricane Katrina (2005) caused millions of dollars of damage to coastal Mississippi in the areas of Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula. As in the rest of the Deep South, thunderstorms are common in Mississippi, especially in the southern part of the state. On average, Mississippi has around 27 tornadoes annually; the northern part of the state has more tornadoes earlier in the year and the southern part a higher frequency later in the year. Two of the five deadliest tornadoes in US history have occurred in the state. These storms struck Natchez, in southwest Mississippi ( see The Great Natchez Tornado ) and Tupelo, in the northeast of the state.