THE CLIMATE OF THE LAKE REGIOJf. 229 



ville, and 8 at Saint Louis. But lest it be thought such 

 contrasts between the extreme cold of the lake resjion 

 and that of other points, taken simultaneously, may arise 

 from the progressive character of cold centers, let us take 

 the cycle of December 28-29, 1880, and compare, without 

 regard to simultaneousness, the lowest points reached at 

 difterent places. The thermometer during this cycle 

 reached minus 30 at Duluth and minus 16 at Mar- 

 quette, in nearly the same latitude, but protected by Lake 

 Superior. It was minus 37 at Saint Vincent and minus 

 41 at Fort Garry. In a lower latitude the mercury 

 sank to minus 25 at Saint Paul and minus 20 at 

 Escanaba, while at Alpena, in the shelter of the lakes, it 

 only attained minus 10. Still farther south we found it 

 minus 20 at Lacrosse and minus 19 at Milwaukee, while 

 only minus 8 at East Saginaw. Finally, on the parallel 

 of Ann Arbor the thermometer stood at minus 16 in 

 the peninsula of Michigan, while west of the lakes it 

 stood minus 23 at North Platte, minus 12 at Indian- 

 apolis, and minus 13 at Saint Louis. 



The peninsular situation of Michigan between the lakes 

 is somethincf which arrests the attention of the most 

 casual observer of the map of the Northwest. It is not 

 apparent to observation, however, that Michigan is also a 

 climatic peninsula ; and yet the facts which have been 

 cited in this paper show that its climate, in its seasonal 

 means, is a patch taken from the latitude of Ohio; while 

 in the moderation of its extremes it bears an analogy to 

 the Floridian peninsula. Its climate is cut off from that 

 of Wisconsin and Iowa by a barrier as abrupt and as 

 real as that which limits its territory. That which consti- 

 tutes the barrier in the one case creates it in the other. 



