Nebraska often gets overshadowed by its neighboring states, but it has its own place in history. It also made momentous and impressive contributions to the USA it is part of, which everyone should know about. Learn more with these 50 Nebraska facts.
- 01Nebraska covers an estimated 77,000 km² of area.
- 02Water makes up an estimated 1,200 km² or 1% of the state’s area.
- 03At its lowest point on the Missouri River, Nebraska has an elevation of 256 meters above sea level.
- 04An estimated 1.96 million people live in the state today.
- 05This gives Nebraska a population density of 10 people for every km².
Nebraska has distinct geography.
Other US states surround it, with South Dakota to the north, Iowa to the east, Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado to the south, and finally Wyoming to the west. The state also has three major rivers, with the Platte River as the most important, running west to east across Central Nebraska. Similarly, the Niobrara River flows through Northern Nebraska, while the Republican River flows through Southern Nebraska.
Landscape-wise, the Dissected Till Plains dominate Eastern Nebraska, featuring gently-rolling hills, a legacy of the Ice Ages which crushed the land under glaciers. Most of Nebraska, however, forms part of the Great Plains of North America.
The state also has a varied climate.
Most of Nebraska enjoys a humid continental climate featuring warm and humid summers with cold winters. Western Nebraska, however, has a humid subtropical climate featuring hot and humid summers with mild winters. The part of Southern Nebraska bordering Colorado also has a semi-arid climate instead. This gives that area hot and dry summers with surprisingly cool winters.
On average, the state as a whole enjoys an estimated 800 mm of rainfall per year. Temperatures range from 48 degrees Celsius at maximum in summer, which drops to as low as 44 degrees below zero Celsius in winter. The state also falls in the USA’s tornado alley, with most tornadoes striking in spring or summer, but they may also sometimes occur in autumn.
It also has various state parks and forests.
These include the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, located near the village of Harrison in Nebraska’s Sioux County. Covering an area of 12 km², the national monument makes up part of the Niobrara River’s valley. It takes its name from its rich fossil deposits, which go back to the Miocene Epoch between 20 and 16 million years ago. The US government established the national monument in 1997, with authorization for its existence going back to 1965.
Other protected areas in Nebraska include the Nebraska National Forest, which covers an area of 574 km². Established in 1908, the US Forest Service deliberately cultivated three smaller and former national forests, the Dismal River, Niobrara, and North Platte National Forests, into the modern Nebraska National Forest.
Water once covered most of what would become Nebraska.
This took place back during the Cretaceous Period, between 99 and 66 million years ago. At the time, the Western Interior Seaway covered not just Nebraska, but a third of what would later become the USA. The waters only finished receding during the Pliocene Epoch, between 5 and 2 million years ago. The millions of years in which Nebraska lay underwater left rich fossil remnants behind.
These include those of prehistoric sharks like Squalicorax and other fishes like Enchodus. Scientists have also found the fossils of invertebrates, such as ammonites, mollusks, and even plankton. Aquatic dinosaurs like ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs also left fossils of their own behind in Nebraska.
Past Ice Ages also entombed Nebraska under ice.
They first began this pattern during the Pleistocene Epoch, around 3 million years ago. The glaciers left their mark on the landscape, particularly across Eastern Nebraska, primarily in the form of low hills with thick, clayey soils. They also left behind random boulders, carried by glacial ice far from the mountains, and left behind in the lowlands when the ice melted.
