Kansas
The Sunflower State
Climate
Continental, with hot summers and cold winters. Summer highs are about 90F (32C) and winter highs about 40F (4C). Kansas sits in Tornado Alley and can get strong storms in spring.
Main industries
One of the top wheat states in the country, plus cattle ranching, corn, and aircraft building in Wichita, known as the Air Capital of the World.
Top places for tourists
The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, the Old West town of Dodge City, and the Cosmosphere space museum in Hutchinson.
Places of interest
Kansas is famous as Dorothy's home in The Wizard of Oz, and the geographic center of the lower 48 states lies in the north near Lebanon.
A little history
Home to Plains tribes, Kansas saw fighting over slavery called Bleeding Kansas and joined the Union as a free state, the 34th, in 1861.
Fun fact
Kansas grows so much wheat it is called the Breadbasket of the nation.