10 Incredible, Almost Unbelievable Facts About North Dakota

Yep, we've been colder than this place. Our coldest recorded temperature was -60 degrees Fahrenheit. The lowest temperature recorded on Mt. Everest (and all of Nepal), was -49 degrees Fahrenheit. Talk about chilly!

It's not just cold here! The warmest temperature recorded in North Dakota was 121 degrees Fahrenheit. This is hotter than the highest temperatures in places like Brazil, Argentina, Morocco, Sudan, and Botswana - among many other countries.

North Dakota's largest body of water has a shoreline so long, it would surpass California's. For comparison, the shoreline for the lake is 1,320 miles. The California coast measures at only 840 miles. Wow!

Pheasants aren't the only birds to be recognized in this state - we also have a huge area where white pelicans migrate to nest and rear their young. In fact, North Dakota's Chase Lake has the largest nesting colony of white pelicans in the entire nation.

Considering everything in the state is pretty spread out, most everyone uses a car to get around. And I suppose a second car, because one is your usual getting around car and the other is your useful truck for hauling things, and maybe even a third car, your first beater that you still have and can't give up for sentimental reasons even if you're pretty sure it can't go five miles without giving out. It's okay, no one is judging.

The most populous cattle is the angus - shown here - and cattle farmers in the state produce enough beef for 113 million hamburgers. Now THAT is a lot of beef!

Rutland, North Dakota boasts the title of being the place where the world's largest hamburger was made. It weighed a whopping (pun intended) 3,591 pounds and fed 8,000 people. They even successfully flipped this monster meat on a giant grill, part of which still stands today in Rutland.

Today, English is the most common language spoken here. But there were once many immigrants who spoke German or Norwegian. The language wasn't official until almost a hundred years after ND was made a state.

We surpass 48 other states in wheat production - even states like Oklahoma - but we are just behind Kansas. That is, MOST of the time. There have been a few years we beat them in wheat production, too. Many years it is very close. Millions of bushels are produced per year in North Dakota alone.

If you're from North Dakota, you're probably used to seeing fields of crops everywhere, but what about fields of bee hives? About 35 million pounds of that delicious, golden, sticky sweet goodness is produced here every year. If you're wondering what happens to them in winter, most of them get to go on a sunny vacation to places like California where they help pollinate crops until they are back to making honey right here in ND.