New York State Climate The climate of New York State has been well documented by Mordoff (1949). The general climate of a region in the intermediate latitudes are determined by i) latitude; ii) altitude; iii) distance and direction from large bodies of water; and iv) location in respect to the normal path of storms. The latitude determines the amount of energy received from the sun. In general, there is a 1o F (0.55oC) decrease in annual mean temperature with every 1o increase in latitude. An increase in elevation of 100m results in approximately 1o F (0.55oC) decrease in temperature. This accounts for extremely cold conditions in the North West of the state. The Great Lakes (Erie and Ontario) have a dramatic influence on the climate of the state. Water retains heat much longer than land and therefore lakes have a moderating influence upon climate. This effect is proportional to the size of the lake. The Central or Finger Lakes have a much smaller effect than the Great Lakes. The effect of lakes is governed by the direction of the prevailing winds which in New York State are predominantly westerly. Locations on the eastern shores of lakes tend to have more of a modified climate than those on the western shores. The maps are derived from interpolation of North American weather stations and algorithms which account for the influence of elevation. The climatic suitability map presented here is a combination of individual climatic maps. The threshold values for construction of this maps are some what arbitrary but are listed in Table 1. It should be noted that this map is designed to give an overall summary of climate suitability for grape cultivation and should not be interpreted in absolute terms.
