Seattle 101 - A Guide for Travelers and Tourists

Location and Geography

• The City of Seattle is located in the State of Washington on Puget Sound, 113 miles (182 km) south of the U.S.-Canadian border.
• It is at latitude 47" 37' and north longitude 122" 19' West.
• Its land area covers 217 sq km, and its water area covers 150 sq km -- 41% water in city limits!
• The city is located at sea level. The highest hill elevation in the city is 520 feet.
• Seattle terrain is hilly (the city is built on seven adjacent hills) and green.
• The city shoreline runs along Puget Sound to the west and Lake Washington to the east.
• The Lake Washington Ship Canal is an east/west running waterway that geologically divides Seattle into northern and southern sections.
• Lake Union is a 580 acre freshwater lake that is part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal system, located about mid-city, just to the west of Interstate-5.
• The city's major lakes are Lake Washington, which stretches along almost the entire eastern side of Seattle, and Bitter Lake, Green Lake and Haller Lake, which are all north of the Lake Washington Ship Canal.
• There are over 150 bridges in use in Seattle, helping people travel over the many waterways in the city.
• The city is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas.
• An active geological fault, The Seattle Fault Zone, runs under the city.
• Harbor Island, at the mouth of the Duwamish Waterway, is an artificial island, first built in 1909. It divides the Duwamish Waterway into east and west waterways.
• South of Harbor Island, the Duwamish Waterway becomes the Duwamish River, which divides South Seattle between the Beacon Hill, Seward Park and Rainier Valley neighborhoods to the east, and the Delridge and West Seattle neighborhoods to the west.
• Seattle contains a number of streams, creeks and waterways, including Broadview Creek, Fauntleroy Creek, Longfellow Creek and Piper's Creek, which empty into Puget Sound, and Arboretum Creek, Ravenna Creek and Thornton Creek, which empty into Lake Washington.
• Seattle, the Emerald City, has hundreds of parks. See the Parks and Recreation web site for the full list.

• Seattle Datasheet - More Facts About Seattle
• Seattle Area Maps and Directions
• Seattle Neighborhood Map Atlas
• Where in the World is Seattle? Map
• Seattle Bridges from Seattle Department of Transportation
• Seattle Parks from Seattle Parks and Recreation
• Pacific Northwest Seismic Network
• Streams and Watersheds of Seattle Map from Seattle Parks and Recreation
• Highest Elevations and Steepest Streets in Seattle

Time Zone

Seattle and the Pacific Northwest are in the Pacific Standard Time (PST) Zone.

Seattle time is 2 hours ahead of Hawaii time (Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time), 1 hour ahead of Alaska time (Alaska Standard Time), 1 hour behind Colorado (Mountain Standard Time), 2 hours behind Alabama (Central Standard Time), and 3 hours behind New York (Atlantic Standard Time).

During the spring and summer months, Pacific Standard Time becomes Pacific Daylight Time -- clocks are reset an hour forward in early spring, and reset an hour back in early fall.

Use the below links to compare various time zones by international and national city locations.

• Washington State Time Zone - TimeTemperature.Com
• The World Clock - Time Zones
• World Clock - North America
• Time and Frequency Division of NIST Physics Laboratory

Time Zone Map