150 ELEMENTS OF GENERAL SCIENCE 



direction or when the west wind is so light that a lake 

 breeze develops. The effect of the lake is particularly im- 

 portant in case of a cold wave, for our coldest winds are 

 from the northwest. 



The influence of lakes tends to reduce the extremes of 

 temperature. Places near lakes have on the average cooler 

 summers and warmer winters than they would otherwise 

 have. This effect is great enough to be of some importance 

 on the west shores of the lakes, but it is of much greater 

 importance on the east shores. 



Similar conditions will be found in the vicinity of any 

 large body of water in a temperate latitude. In tropical 

 countries, where there is no cold season and the winds are 

 easterly, conditions are somewhat different, but the same 

 principles apply. The western coast of each continent is 

 warmer than the eastern coast in the same latitude. 



165. Some effects of lake climate. The coolness of the 

 summer months attracts thousands of people from the hot- 

 ter parts of the country to the shores of lakes and oceans. 

 Thousands of summer residences have been built and whole 

 summer cities have grown up along shores which are some- 

 times so barren that, were it not for the climate, scarcely 

 anyone would live there. During the winter these settle- 

 ments are often almost wholly deserted. 



Back from the shore of Lake Michigan and for many 

 miles inland the climate is so modified that it is possible in 

 the lower peninsula of Michigan to grow fruits which can- 

 not be grown with success away from the lake, excepting 

 some hundreds of miles farther south. For instance, peaches 

 are grown largely on the east side of Lake Michigan, but 

 they do not succeed well on the west side; indeed, it is 

 necessary to go as far south as southern Illinois and middle 

 Missouri to find an equally favorable climate. 



The influence of the lake hinders the occurrence of early 

 frosts in autumn and delays the return of warm weather in 



