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The City or BUFFALO is situated at the foot of Lake Erie, in 
latitude 42° 52’ 46.26’ N., and longitude 1° 52’ 57.1’ W. of Wash- 
ington:—the Lighthouse, at the mouth of Buffalo River, being taken 
as the point of observation. Its mean annual temperature, deduced 
from the daily observations of more than twenty years, is 48.39", 
Fahrenheit. Its mean temperature for the summer months averages 
68.80°, and for the winter months, 30.22°. Its changes of tempera- 
ture, although somewhat sudden, are in fact neither as extreme nor 
as frequent as those of many places not very distant. Usually, in 
summer, Montreal and Quebec have-warmer days, and in wimter, St. 
Louis and Memphis, colder ones. Philadelphia, lying nearly 180 
miles more southerly, has a higher annual temperature of only six 
degrees. , 
} The cause of this equability of climate is easily discovered. 
Within the limits of Buffalo are eight miles of the shore of Lake 
Erie and Niagara River. The waters of the lake, warmed by the 
summer, later in the year impart their heat to the atmosphere, and 
thus for a while, retard the approach of winter. The same cause, 
acting in the opposite direction, delays the spring, (often for a con- 
siderable time), and always moderates the heat of summer. But 
these effects extend inland only a few miles. 
The height of Lake Erie has been ascertained to be 573 feet 
above the ocean. The City of Buffalo nowhere occupies an eleva-- 
tion of more than 105 feet above the lake, and probably its average 
height does not exceed 30 feet. But at the distance of 20 or 30 
miles to the east and south, the ground is much higher; and there, 
as might be expected, we find a much lower mean annual tempera- 
ture. At Salamanca, in Cattaraugus County, distant 50 miles from 
Buffalo, the mean annual temperature is only 45°, Fahr. 
For the last twenty-four years the average rain-fall at Buffalo 
has been 36.47 inches. But towards the south and southeast the 
usually lower temperature is accompanied by an increase in the 
annual rain-fall. At Salamanca, above mentioned, it is 44 inches. 
Whilst it may well be supposed that at all times, but especially in 
summer, the lake imparts to the atmosphere some degree of moist- 
ure, nevertheless, the climate at Buffalo, as compared with those of 
places not very remote, must be regarded as dry. It may be of in- 
terest to note that in Pennsylvania, and the middle and southerly 
