A Fruit Belt is an area where a microclimate

Microclimate

A microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet or as large as many square miles...

 provides ideal conditions for fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 growing.

Fruit Belts are prominent around the North American Great Lakes

Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...

 region, notably West Michigan and western Northern Lower Michigan

Northern Michigan

Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan , is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan...

 in tandem, and the southern shore of Lake Erie

Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...

. The conditions that produce the fruit-growing microclimate in this region are also the same that produce lake-effect snow; therefore, Fruit Belts and snowbelt

Snowbelt

Snowbelt is a term describing of a number of regions near the Great Lakes in North America where heavy snowfall in the form of lake-effect snow is particularly common. Snowbelts are typically found downwind of the lakes, principally off the eastern and southern shores...

s are often concurrent. A Fruit Belt also exists in Central Washington

Central Washington

Central Washington is a region of the United States defined as the western half of Eastern Washington, or those counties lying east of the Cascade Mountains but west of the 119th meridian west....

State.