Closer Than You Think, Just 2 States Separate Michigan from America’s Desert Southwest

Sitting in a location surrounded by all the Great Lakes that count and bordering Canada, it would be hard to imagine that a Midwestern state like Michigan would be as close as it is to America's Desert Southwest. (And yes, despite what some people think, Michigan is a Midwestern state.)

How is it possible? Most geographers consider America's southwest to start in western Oklahoma. The arid scrublands of the Oklahoma panhandle and the corner of the state that borders Texas and a tiny sliver of New Mexico could be seen as part of the greater Southwest region that many people would think of as places like Phoenix.

So how is it possible that Michigan could be considered that close? Examine this map proposing the location of the Southwest shared to a forum on Reddit dedicated to geography.

READ MORE: If Michigan's Upper Peninsula Belonged to Wisconsin, Would it be a Panhandle?

The map shows the Southwest region shaded in orange. So how to connect Michigan to there? Michigan shares a water border with Illinois in the center of Lake Michigan. Illinois and Missouri share a long border along the Mississippi River and, though it's just 35 miles, Missouri and Oklahoma share a border.

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So it's just Illinois and Missouri between Michigan and the dry, barren Southwest. Or to flip the script, it's just two states between Oklahoma, a state with no natural lakes, and Michigan, the Water Wonderland with the world's great abundance of fresh water in the Great Lakes.