FIFTEENTH ORDINARY MEETING. 207 
Highlands of Grey, where an elevation of 1,700 feet above the sea is 
attained. Consequently, considerable differences in climate exist 
in this interior. On the Highlands of Grey, and on the Lake 
Huron slope the snowfall is often excessively heavy, and the snow 
lies several feet in depth, when in some districts of the Province the 
ground is bare. Sleighing usually lasts for three months or more on 
the highest levels. Of the annual precipitation of this part of the 
interior, there are but few records, and these cover but a very short 
period. There is reason, however, to think that the annual precipi- 
tation in some localities, as in Muskoka, exceeds 50 inches, that is, 
amounts to nearly twice the precipitation of the dryest localities of 
the Province. The explanation of this heavy precipitation has 
already been sufficiently indicated. 
The winter temperature of the central watershed, owing to great 
elevation, is cold, averaging in some localities below 20°. The ex- 
tremes of cold, too, are great, though on these, as on the winter mean, 
the surrounding lakes exercise a moderating influence, and the tempera- 
ture usually does not fall so low as at Ottawa or as in the Western 
States at even lower levels and much lower latitudes. 
The difference in mean summer temperature between the lake 
shore and the highest land of the interior, is not great when the 
difference in altitude is considered. The mean of July, at the highest 
points, is about 65° and the maximum heat is about as high as on 
the Lake Huron shore. The degree of heat attained is due, in a 
large measure, to the extent of unbroken land to the south and south- 
west. At Owen Sound on the south shore of the Georgian Bay, so 
much does this large land area in the direction of the warm winds 
affect the climate, temperatures as high as 95° have been reported 
in the month of May. At elevations of 1,000 to 1,200 feet, the 
mean of summer is nearly as high as at Toronto, and the daily and 
yearly maxima are higher. The difference from the lake coasts and 
lower levels is chiefly in the existence of a greater daily and seasonal 
range on the high land and a shorter period of exemption from early and 
late frosts. On the long slope towards Lakes Erie and St. Clair, the 
mean temperature of all seasons gradually rises, and at some distance 
inland the mean temperature of summer exceeds that of the Erie coast 
by several degrees, and almost equals that of the very warmest locali- 
ties of the Province. In extremes of warmth, both summer and 
winter, the temperatures are higher than in most localities near the 
16 
