434 Eighth Axnual Keport of the 



Arcade, but situated beyond the slope of the lake. Arcade, in 

 fact, ai>pears to mark the limit of distance at which the thermal 

 effects of the lakes can be distinguished from those of the ocean. 



The most temi>erate climate of the Great Lake Region is that 

 of the Chautauqua county " Grape Belt," which extends from the 

 southern shore of Lake Erie up the lower slopes of the Chautauqua 

 county hills; its length being about sixty miles, and its width 

 from two to six miles. This section, represented by the stations 

 Erie and Dunkirk, has the same annual midsummer and midwin- 

 ter temperatures a® Mountainville, in the Lower Hudson valley, 

 but differs from the latter in its cooler spring and warmer autumn 

 seasons. As will be seen further on, the date of autumn frosts 

 is unusually late in the grape belt, and the minimum temperatures 

 of winter are less severe than in any other portion of the State ex- 

 (;epting the Atlantic coast region. The characteristic features of 

 the climate are due to the lake and to the high hills, which rise on 

 the easern side, somewhat in the form of a half ellipse or oval, 

 a])proadiing the lake most closely at* the northern and southern 

 extremities of the county, and leaving a large extent of sheltered 

 territory in the center. The highest altitude of the«rape belt is 

 found in the vicinity of Prospect, about 1,300 feet above tide, and 

 700 feet above Lake Erie. Assuming the decrease of temperature 

 to be 0.4 degrees per 100 feet of altitude, as for the main portion of 

 the State, the midsummer temperature of this upper limit is about 

 68 degrees. 



The highlands of southwestern New York subside gradually 

 toward the norUi, leaving a nearly level tract of country stretcliing 

 between northern Lake Erie and the southern shore of Lake On- 

 tario. The temperature of this region is mainly determined by the 

 southwesterly winds from Lake Erie; but in the northern pari a 

 tract extending eastward from the Xiagara river through Niagara 

 and Orleans counties is subject to westerly land winds which blow 

 ovei the isthmus between the two lakes, and hence are but little 

 affected by the temperature of the water. The winter cold is 

 tlu^refore greater than in the adjacent territory on the northern 



