GEOG 321: Chapter Two - Environmental Setting

Geography
New York City is located in the northeastern United States, in southeastern New York State, approximately halfway between Washington, D.C. and Boston. Its location at the mouth of the Hudson River, which flows into New York Bay, separates the city from New Jersey.

The city's total area is 468.9 square miles, of which 164.1 square miles are water. The highest point in the city is Todt Hill on Staten Island, reaching an elevation of 410 feet above sea level.

The boroughs of NYC straddle the border between two geologic provinces of eastern North America. Brooklyn and Queens, located on Long Island (a massive moraine which formed at the southern fringe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the last Ice Age), are part of the eastern coastal plain. The Bronx and Manhattan lie on the eastern edge of the Newark Basin, a block of the Earth's crust which sank downward during the disintegration of the supercontinent Pangea during the Triassic Period. Tough metamorphic rocks underlie much of Manhattan, providing solid support for its many skyscrapers.

Climate

NYC has a humid, subtropical climate, which is vastly affected by the city's proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, a seventy-year-long warming and cooling cycle in the Atlantic that influences the frequency and severity of hurricanes and coastal storms.

Winters in NYC are notoriously frigid. The city is located in the USDA Hardiness Zone 7, indicating that the coldest temperature of the year is typically between 0 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit. New York winters often feature several nor'easters, as well, which can paralyze the city with over a foot of snow.

Spring and Autumn are generally mild, but notably unpredictable. These seasons have the capacity to surprise New Yorkers with late snowstorms in the first few weeks of April or long stretches of dry weather.

Summers in NYC are hot and humid. Thunderstorms are common, and even the occasional tornado can form!