The city of Chihuahua is the state capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It has a population of about 748,551. The predominant activity is light industry, in the form of maquiladoras.
Chihuahua is on the western side of the Chihuahuan Desert ecoregion and as such has a fairly arid climate (476.7 mm of precipitation annually) but not as hot as most of the lower elevated portions of the desert to the east owing to altitude of almost 1500 m ASL (the average temperature is 17.8 °C). The National Weather Service of Mexico (Servicio Meteorologico Nacional) states that for the period of 1971 to 2000 the warmest temperature recorded is 40 °C on June 21, 1981 and the coldest -10 °C on December 9, 1978. July 1973 is the record wettest month, with 242.5 mm. For a single day the record is 81 mm on September 25, 1978. Snowfall is somewhat uncommon with only 2 to 3 snowfalls a year, although the surrounding area may receive three to four snowfalls.
Chihuahua is best described as shaped as a gigantic letter`L', with plains to the north and hills on both sides, as well as the south; crossed east-and-west by Teofilo Borunda Avenue, which follows the natural flow of the Chuviscar River. Borunda is crossed in the west by the Periferico de la Juventud, a major limited-access highway running north-and-south. The main entrance to the city from the north (from the direction of Ciudad Juarez) is Tecnològico Avenue, which is also the Pan-American Highway. A city map is available on the internet at Mapquest.com and other mapping sites.
The geography of the city is dominated by three main hills: Cerro Grande, Cerro Coronel and Santa Rosa, the last of which is fully covered by the city; these three hills appear in the Coat of Arms. The Cerro Grande has a monumental cross that is lighted each Christmas.
To the east and northeast, one finds the Sierra Nombre de Dios across the Sacramento River from the city. Contained therin, off of H. Colegio Militar Ave, are the Nombre de Dios Caverns, a beautiful natural display of minerals and underground formations. To the far east, and south, there's the airport and the highway to the town of Aldama. |
