46 RURAL NEW YORK 



Adjacent to the Great Lakes a similar but less 

 noticeable land and lake breeze is recognized. In 

 the regions of steep topography, local breezes are de- 

 veloped by the flow of the cooled air down the slopes. 

 Where narrow gorges connect elevated country with 

 deep valleys, distinct breezes are observed in the eve- 

 ning that sometimes attain a velocity of eight or ten 

 miles an hour in the mouth of these gorges. Such 

 breezes are best developed in the plateau and moun- 

 tain regions. These are drafts determined by un- 

 equal cooling of the atmosphere as soon as the sun 

 gets low, coupled with their guidance by the form of 

 the land surface. There is a less perceptible move- 

 ment down broad slopes. These local movements have 

 been observed in the valleys of southern New York 

 often to be opposed entirely to the general wind move- 

 ment 800 or 300 feet above the surface.^ In the hill 

 and mountain regions, the exposure of the crests and 

 the higher slopes facing the prevailing storms to the 

 vigor of the high winds, especially in the extreme 

 temperatures of winter, makes a wide variation in 

 conditions for living and for the growth of trees, and 

 thereby affects agricultural development. Farms 

 seek the sheltered positions for home sites. In ad- 

 dition the freedom from sweeping winds in such 

 sheltered situations permits the snow to lay on the 

 ground to prevent the destructive action of frequent 

 freezing and thawing and protect winter crops from 

 low temperature. 



1 Turner, E. T. " The Physical Geography of New York 

 State," R. S. Tarr. Macmillan Co., 1902, p. 340. 



