Note 1417 — Chapter XVII · —The Influence Of Climate

Owing to the prevalence of westerly winds in the Temperate Zones and particularly in the North Temperate Zone, the mean annual temperature is high on the western face of the northern continents, but drops rapidly toward the east.1417 This is especially true of winter temperatures, which even near the eastern coast show the severity of a continental climate. Sitka and New York, Trondhjem and Peking have the same mean January temperatures, though Peking lies in about the latitude of Madrid, over twenty-three degrees farther south.