The Southwest Region

Lesson 2 Notes

The Southwest is made up of four states: Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

The Dry Southwest

  • The Coastal Plain in Texas is warm and rainy, which results in thick forests in the area. Eastern Texas and Oklahoma get more than 40 inches of rain a year.
  • High up in the Rocky Mountains the temperatures can drop far below the freezing mark.
  • Many parts of the Southwest are covered by deserts.
  • Deserts are dry lands where little rain falls. Deserts get less than 10 inches of precipitation a year.
  • The Southwest is closer to the equator than other parts of the country, which results in temperatures being high all year round. The heat and dry air affect the region’s land.
  • The five major deserts in the United States include: Painted Desert, Death Valley, Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, and Chihuahuan Desert.
  • The Southwest has a rich source of oil and various minerals.

Life in a Dry Climate

  • People have found ways to adapt to living in this kind of environment in the Southwest. People drink lots of water and use fans and air conditioning to stay cool.
  • Adapting is making changes to survive.
  • Plants and animals also adapt to the environment. Some plans can store water to survive during the long, dry season. Many desert animals are light colored, which allows them to reflect to the sun and stay cool.
  • A drought is a period with little to no rainfall.
  • In 1932, parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and states in the Midwest experienced a drought that lasted most of the 1930s.
  • At the same time, enormous dust storms blew across the region because farmers had plowed up thick prairie grasses, which helped the soil to stay in place.
  • As a result of the Dust Bowl, thousands of families lost their homes and farms and moved to California to find new jobs on other farms.

Black Gold

  • Many natural resources found in the Southwest include cotton, wheat, sorghum, shrimp, and fish. Underground natural resources include minerals such as copper, silver, and uranium, and oil.
  • The oil is so valuable that it has been nicknamed as “black gold”
  • Petroleum is another word for oil and can be difficult to find because it is underground. Scientists can study rocks to see if there might be oil in the area before they begin to drill.
  • Texas and Oklahoma are two of the country’s largest producers of oil. This oil is used throughout the entire country and has greatly helped our economy!