Minnesota's placement in the geographic heart of the North American continent, and at the junction of three major ecoregions, means we're both right in the middle of things, and right at the edge of things. More specifically, Minnesota contains the eastern edge of the great plains/prairie, the southern end of the coniferous forests, and the northern end of the hardwood forests. Just as likely, position-wise, to get a stray from either the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans, and from the Gulf of Mexico or from the Arctic, Minnesota's a place where you never know what's around the corner.