Panamas geography

Panama is located in Central America, in between Colombia and Costa Rica, bordering the Caribbean sea and the North Pacific Ocean. Panama's area spans 75,420 square kilometers and is slightly smaller than South Carolina. Panama's coastline is 2490 km and the country's territorial sea reaches 12 nautical miles. Panama has various, unique terrain, with its rugged mountains, upland plains, and rolling hills it makes up the beautiful country. Panama’s lowest point is the Pacific Ocean, at 0 feet, and its highest point is Volcan Baru, being 11,400 feet. The country is gifted with a variety of natural resources, such as copper, mahogany forests, shrimp, and hydropower. Panama also has a few natural hazards, being occasional severe storms and forest fires, particularly in the Darien mountain range. Panama’s climate is exceptionally tropical with its high temperatures, reaching 80 degrees fahrenheit annually on the coasts and between 50 and 66 degrees fahrenheit in the mountains. Panama is also exceedingly humid, its humidity averaging 80%. The country is extremely rainy, every month it rains and Panama's rainy season occurs between April and December. Rain is heavier on the Atlantic, than the Pacific side, and the least amount of rain is received on the Azuero Peninsula. Panama’s canal has a great impact upon the local ecosystem, creating artificial lakes such as the Gatun Lake, which submerges large areas of wetland and forest. Panama is a narrow, tropical isthmus that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.