Summertime weather forecasts for cities on the shores of the Great Lakes often contain the phrase "cooler near the lake." Explain the relevance of this phrase

Question

What will be the ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER: The uneven heating rates of land and water cause mesoscale coastal winds. During the day, the land heats more quickly than the adjacent water, and the intensive heating of the air above produces a shallow thermal low. The air over the water remains cooler than the air over the land; hence, a shallow thermal high exists above the water. The overall effect of this pressure distribution is a sea breeze, or in this case a lake breeze, that blows at the surface from the lake toward the land. Since the strongest gradients of temperature and pressure occur near the land-water boundary, the strongest winds typically occur right near the beach and diminish inland. Further, since the greatest contrast in temperature between land and water usually occurs in the afternoon, lake breezes are strongest at this time. At night, the land cools more quickly than the water. The air above the land becomes cooler than the air over the water, producing a distribution of pressure. With higher surface pressure now over the land, the surface wind reverses itself and becomes a land breeze—a surface breeze that flows from the land toward the water. Temperature contrasts between land and water are generally much smaller at night; hence, land breezes are usually weaker than their daytime counterpart, the lake breeze. In regions where greater nighttime temperature contrasts exist, stronger land breezes occur over the water, off the coast. They are not usually noticed much on shore, but are frequently observed by ships in coastal waters.