Geography of Lithuania
Lithuania is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. The most populous of the Baltic states, Lithuania has of coastline consisting of the continental coast and the "Curonian Spit" coast. Lithuania's major warm-water port of Klaipėda (Memel) lies at the narrow mouth of Curonian Lagoon, a shallow lagoon extending south to Kaliningrad and separated from the Baltic sea by Curonian Spit, where Kuršių Nerija National Park was established for its remarkable sand dunes. The Neman River and some of its tributaries are used for internal shipping (in 2000, 89 inland ships carried 900,000 tons  of cargo, which is less than 1% of the total goods traffic). Situated between 56.27 and 53.53 latitudes and 20.56 and 26.50 longitudes, Lithuania is glacially flat, except for morainic hills in the western uplands and eastern highlands no higher than 300 metres. The terrain is marked by numerous small lakes and swamps, and a mixed forest zone covers over 33% of the country. The growing season lasts 169 days in the east and 202 days in the west, with most farmland consisting of sandy- or clay-loam soils. Limestone, clay, sand, and gravel are Lithuania's primary natural resources , but the coastal shelf offers perhaps of oil deposits, and the southeast could provide high yields of iron ore and granite. According to some geographers, the geographical midpoint of Europe is just north of Lithuania's capital, Vilnius. Geographical position. Lithuania is situated on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania's boundaries have changed several times since 1918, but they have been stable since 1945. Currently, Lithuania covers an area of about . About the size of West Virginia, it is larger than Belgium, Denmark, Latvia, the Netherlands, or Switzerland. Lithuania borders Latvia on the north, Belarus on the  east and south, and Poland and the Kaliningrad region of Russia on the southwest. It is a country of gently rolling hills, many forests, rivers and streams, and lakes. Its principal natural resource is agricultural land. Lithuania's northern neighbor is Latvia. The two countries share a border that extends 453 kilometres. Lithuania's eastern border with Belarus is longer, stretching 502 kilometers. The border with Poland on the south is relatively short, only 91 kilometers, but it is very busy because of international traffic. Lithuania also has a 227-kilometer border with Russia. Russian territory adjacent to Lithuania is  Kaliningrad Oblast, which is the northern part of the former German East Prussia, including the city of Kaliningrad. Finally, Lithuania has 108 kilometers of Baltic seashore with an ice-free harbor at Klaipėda. The Baltic coast offers sandy beaches and pine forests and attracts thousands of vacationers. Topography and drainage. Lithuania lies at the edge of the North European Plain. Its landscape was shaped by the glaciers of the last Ice Age, which retreated about 25,000–22,000 years BP (Before Present). Lithuania's terrain is an alternation of moderate lowlands and highlands. The highest elevation is 297.84 meters above sea level , found in the eastern part of the republic and separated from the uplands of the western region of Samogitia by the fertile plains of the southwestern and central regions. The landscape is punctuated by 2,833 lakes larger than and 1,600 smaller ponds. The majority of the lakes are found in the eastern part of the country. Lithuania also has 758 rivers longer than . The largest river is the Nemunas (total length ), which originates in Belarus. The other larger waterways are the Neris (), Venta (), and Šešupė () rivers. However, only of Lithuania's rivers are navigable. Once a heavily forested land, Lithuania 's territory today consists of only 32.8 percent woodlands—primarily pine, spruce, and birch forests. Ash and oak are very scarce. The forests are rich in mushrooms and berries, as well as a variety of plants. Climate. Lithuania has a humid continental climate ("Dfb" in the Köppen climate classification). Average temperatures on the coast are in January and in July. In Vilnius the average temperatures are in January and in July. Simply speaking, is frequent on summer days and at night. Temperatures occasionally reach in summer. Winters when easterly flows from Siberia predominate, like 1941–42, 1955–56 and 1984–85, are very  cold, whereas winters dominated by westerly maritime airflows like 1924–25, 1960–61 and 1988–89 are mild with temperatures above freezing a normal occurrence. occurs almost every winter. Winter extremes are at the coast and in the east of Lithuania. The average annual precipitation is on the coast, in Samogitia highlands, and in the eastern part of the country. Snow occurs every year, it can be snowing from October to April. In some years sleet can fall in September or May. The growing season lasts 202 days in the western part of the country and 169 days in the eastern part. Severe  storms are rare in the eastern part of Lithuania and common nearer the coast. The longest measured temperature records from the Baltic area cover about 250 years. The data show that there were warm periods during the latter half of the eighteenth century and that the nineteenth century was a relatively cool period. An early twentieth century warming culminated in the 1930s, followed by a smaller cooling that lasted until the 1960s. A warming trend has persisted since then. Lithuania experienced a drought in 2002, causing forest and peat bog fires. The country suffered along with the rest of Northwestern  Europe during a heatwave in the summer of 2006.