This article is written like a personal reflection or essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (September 2009)

Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.

  New York City, Long Island, and nearby areas — always considered "Downstate".

  New York City exurbs which are rural but still within the New York City sphere of influence — usually considered "Downstate"

  Area is considered "Central" as well as "Upstate", along with the blue and green areas

  Western New York — sometimes still considered "Upstate"

  The North Country and Adirondacks — Sometimes included in what is considered Upstate

Definition[link]

Upstate New York is an ill-defined region north and west of New York City (in red)

View of the Fulton Chain (4th Lake) from Bald Mountain

There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York. Latitude is generally a consideration in whether or not a place is "upstate", as well as elevation and being away from sea level (hence the prefix "up", meaning both to the north and having a greater altitude). Distance from New York City is also a consideration. Complicating any definition is the usage of the word "upstate" (in lowercase) as a direction, rather than as the name of a region.

One usage locates the Upstate/Downstate boundary farther north^[vague] at the point at which New York City's suburbs segue into its exurbs. This line would place most, but not all, of Westchester and Rockland counties south of the boundary, putting the northwestern edge of Rockland as well as the northernmost quarter of Westchester (such as Peekskill) in Upstate New York. Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam counties are the northernmost counties of the state of New York that are within the New York metropolitan area, with Putnam being the northernmost of all. This was the definition used (unsuccessfully) by the plaintiffs in the Federal redistricting case of Rodriguez v. Pataki.^[1] Another usage of the term "Upstate" excludes only New York City and Long Island.

One traditional, political definition of Upstate is "north of Bear Mountain" in Orange County, New York.

Another view places the boundary even farther north. Orange, Dutchess, and Ulster counties, even farther "upstate" (lower case) are part of the New York-Newark-Bridgeport, New York-New Jersey-Connecticut-Pennsylvania Combined Statistical Area (CSA), and also sometimes not identified as being part of Upstate (uppercase). Because most New York City bedroom communities in Dutchess and Orange counties are situated in the southern part of those counties and the New York City's suburban public transportation system extends some distance north, the Upstate/Downstate boundary can be defined roughly by a border extended from Wassaic (in Dutchess County, where Metro-North's Harlem Line ends) across to Poughkeepsie, down to Newburgh and then across to Middletown and Port Jervis in Orange County. This definition of Upstate New York roughly corresponds with the area north of Interstate 84. This imaginary line also demarcates the northernmost reach of high housing prices associated with the Downstate region in contrast to the relatively low housing costs found farther Upstate. It also roughly corresponds to the demarcation line between area code 914 (which covers most of the northern suburbs of New York City) and area code 845 (which covers the area immediately beyond that).

Particularly within Upstate New York, the demarcation of "Upstate" is often much farther north. For instance, many communities clearly beyond the New York City commuter orbit are part of New York City's media market, which includes Dutchess, Ulster and Sullivan counties (i.e. the aforementioned area code 845), and thus do not get local television (via cable) from Albany or Binghamton TV stations. Many upstate residents note that the state capital of Albany, being mostly dominated by New York City-area politicians, has more in common with downstate than upstate, and imply that everything in between, including the Hudson Valley region and occasionally the Catskill Mountains, can be considered downstate. Geographically, Albany is also the point where the New York Thruway turns to the west and drivers continuing north on I-87 cash out of the toll system and continue on the toll-free Adirondack Northway. Columnist Liz Benjamin (a Hudson Valley native who self-identifies as an upstater)^[2] is quoted as saying "I know there’s considerable disagreement over where, exactly, the upstate/downstate divide is located. Some would say it starts at the Capital Region and what’s to the south is more in line with NYC than Western New York and the North Country."^[3] For example, Buffalo News columnist Donn Esmonde (in defending Caroline Kennedy's abortive Senate run) criticized Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's upstate credentials by saying "In the end... [w]e get a [so-called] 'upstate' senator whose Hudson Valley base is equidistant from New York City and Albany, the state’s power centers."^[4] Charles Schumer once famously stated "To me, the West begins across the Hudson River."^[5] Politics aside, the term "Upstate" is occasionally used (somewhat ambiguously) to refer to Northern New York, including the Adirondack Mountains, as opposed to other areas of traditional Upstate such as Western New York and Central New York. In this sense, anything north of the Mohawk River can be considered "Upstate".

In some parts of the New York metropolitan area the term "Upperstate New York" is used to differentiate the close-in suburbs from the northern and western parts of the state. In some regions the term "Upperstate" refers to the suburbs and "Upstate" refers to the northern and western regions, and in other regions the terms are reversed.^{[citation needed]}

Residents of Upstate New York often prefer to identify with a more specific region, such as "Western New York" or "Central New York". Some residents of Western New York object to their area being called "Upstate",^{[citation needed]} though a number of businesses and institutions in the area have "Upstate" as part of their name.^[6][7][8]

New York City is dependent on upstate for a variety of services; it is the source of the city's water supply via the Delaware Aqueduct and the Catskill Aqueduct; much of the city's electric power supply comes from state owned hydroelectric plants at Niagara Falls and the St. Lawrence River such as the Robert Moses power station; and most of the state's prisons are upstate; hence the popular term "being sent up the river" (however, the term originally referred to Sing Sing, which is "up the Hudson River" from New York City, but being in Ossining in Westchester County is still in the "downstate" region). Conversely, the operation of state facilities providing these services is an important part of the upstate economy.

Long Island is never considered upstate, as each of its four counties extends farther south than Manhattan, two are part of New York City, and the island has no direct physical (land or bridge) connection to any part of New York north of New York City.

Institutions with "Upstate" as part of their name include the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, the Upstate New York Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation serving 31 of New York's 62 counties,^[9] and the VA Healthcare Network Upstate New York, which includes all of New York State northward and westward from Kingston, New York in Ulster County.^[10] Other organizations in New York with "Upstate" in their name include the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association, the Upstate Correctional Facility, the Upstate New York Club Hockey League, the Upstate New York Synod, and the Upstate Citizens for Equality.

The term Upstate America is also occasionally used instead of "Upstate New York" to emphasize the differences between upstate and downstate New York, sometimes in comparison to other similar states in the northern tier of the United States.^[11][12][13]

Culture[link]

The region is culturally and economically distinct from the New York City area, though the Hudson Valley counties of Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, and Ulster are increasingly peripheral sections of the New York City metro area. The northern upstate area consists of a handful of small and medium-sized cities, with surrounding suburbs, amidst vast rural areas. Dutchess, Ulster, and Putnam are in fact on the border of the New York Upstate. They are a part of the New York Metro area.

Western New York has many cultural and economic ties to the other Great Lakes states as well as Southern Ontario, while the Capital District, the Hudson Valley, the Mohawk Valley and the Plattsburgh area have ties to New England. The North Country, the extreme northern portion of the state, also has strong cultural, economic, linguistic and familial ties to Quebec and Eastern Ontario. Thus, Plattsburgh has close ties to its neighbors in the Montreal area as well as Vermont.

Linguistically, from Western New York to as far east as Utica is part of the Inland North region of American English dialectology, a region which includes Midwestern cities as far west as Chicago and Milwaukee. The Hudson and lower Mohawk Valley has more in common dialectologically with western New England and New York City.^[14] The boundary between the use of the words pop and soda to refer to soft drinks, however, falls farther west than the edge of the Inland North, running just to the east of the city of Rochester: Buffalo and Rochester use pop, like the rest of the Inland North to the west, whereas Syracuse uses soda, like New England and New York City. In Ithaca and Elmira, the border is less clear, with some people having grown up with pop and some with soda, however current trends see Ithaca, at least, turning to mostly "soda".

Foodways indigenous to regions of Upstate New York include Plattsburgh's "Michigan" hot dog, a variety of Coney Island hot dog; the white hot dog of central and western New York that is known variously as the "White Hot" or "Coney" (pronounced alternately as either "coney" or "cooney"); the "Spiedie" of the Binghamton area, Central New York's salt potatoes, Utica's Tomato Pie, and Chicken riggies, Rochester's Garbage plate, Buffalo's kummelweck and perhaps most famously, Buffalo wings. Calvin Trillin chronicled the origin of Buffalo wings in the August 25, 1980 issue of The New Yorker. Although the potato chip was invented in Saratoga Springs, it has achieved such universal popularity that it is no longer identified with the region. Winemaking is a growing industry in the Finger Lakes as well as in Chautauqua County, where Welch's operates one of the oldest extant grape juice factories in the United States. In the center of the Finger Lakes, region Ithaca is known for the Bo Burger, a cheeseburger with a fried egg on top.

Two of the most important rock festivals of the 20th century were held in Upstate New York. In 1969 the Woodstock Festival was held in Bethel, New York, while in 1973 another multiday festival was held at the Watkins Glen International Raceway.

Some literary, documentary and cinematic depictions of upstate present a sense of small town, simple lifetyles, such as It's a Wonderful Life, set in a small upstate town in the 1940s. A Home Box Office miniseries is planned that will dramatize a New York magazine article on natural gas drillers coming to the region. Richard Russo, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is writing a script for the project.^[15]

Demographics[link]

Racial and ancestral makeup[link]

Ancestries from across the United States.

While residents of English ancestry have a strong presence, The Hudson Valley, the Capital District and the Syracuse region are heavily Irish American. The North Country is heavily French Canadian. Italian Americans are the largest ethnic group in Oneida County, Broome County, and Schenectady, while German ancestry is most common across western New York. Persons of Polish, Irish, German, and Italian ancestry are predominant in the cities of Buffalo and Rochester and their close suburbs. African Americans while not as numerous as in New York City make up a sizable percentage of the residents in cities such as Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany.

There is also a significant presence of the indigenous Iroquois American Indians in the region, who mostly congregate on several reservations: the Seneca nation and Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians in Western New York, the Onondaga nation south of Syracuse, the Oneida nation of Oneida County and the Mohawk nation in St. Lawrence County. Members of Iroquois nations also live in the cities of Upstate New York.

Geography[link]

Adirondack lakeshore

The headwaters of the Delaware, Susquehanna, Hudson, and Allegheny rivers are located in the region. The region is characterized by the major mountain ranges, large lakes, and extensive forests.

The Allegheny Plateau extends into west and central New York from the south. The Catskill Mountains lie in the southeastern part of the state, closer to New York City. The Catskills and the Allegheny Plateau are both part of the Appalachian Mountains. The northernmost part of the state contains the Adirondack Mountains, which are sometimes considered part of the Appalachians but are geologically separate, a southern extension of the Canadian Shield.

In the more mountainous eastern part of Upstate New York, the valleys of the Hudson River and the Mohawk River were historically important travel corridors and remain so today. Western New York in the vicinity of Buffalo is very flat, as it was once the bottom of a glacial lake. The only "hills" in Niagara County are the Niagara Escarpment, which formed the Falls.

Upstate has a long shared border with Canadian province of Ontario divided by water; including the Lake Erie, Niagara River, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. It shares a land border with the province of Quebec in the northernmost part of the state.

The sizes of upstate counties and towns are generally larger in area and smaller in population, compared with the downstate region, although there are exceptions. The state's smallest county in population (Hamilton County) and largest county in area (St. Lawrence County on the state's northern border) are both in Upstate New York, while the largest in population (Kings County) and smallest in area (New York County) are both part of New York City.

Upstate New York is well known for its cold and snowy winters, particularly in comparison to the more temperate climate of downstate New York. The snowy reputation is especially true for the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Oswego and Syracuse, and is largely due to lake-effect snow from Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The villages of Old Forge and Saranac Lake, both in the Adirondacks, often vie on winter nights with places like International Falls, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota for the coldest spot in the nation.^[16]

Many of the features of the upstate landscape, such as the Finger Lakes and the drumlins that dot the region, are the result of glaciers during the Ice Age.

History[link]

Early history[link]

Before the arrival of European settlement, the area was inhabited by a mixture of Iroquois-speaking people (mainly west of the Hudson) and Algonquian-speaking people (mainly east of the Hudson). The conflict between the two peoples was an important historical force in the days of the early European colonization. The Haudenosaunee or Iroquois confederacy of the Five (later Six) Nations was a powerful force in its home territory, having successfully eliminated the tribes of Neutral Indians, Wenrohronon and the Erie Indians in Western New York during the Beaver Wars. (Survivors were mostly assimilated into the Seneca nation; others are believed to have escaped to South Carolina.) The Iroquois nations' territory extended from the Mohawk River Valley to the western part of the state. From this home base they also controlled at various times large swaths of additional territory throughout what is now the northeastern United States. The Guswhenta (Two Row Wampum Treaty), made with the Dutch government in 1613, codified relations between the Haudenosaunee and European colonizers, and formed the basis of subsequent treaties.

The region was important beginning in the very early days of both the French Colonization and Dutch colonization. Much of the fur trade of the New Netherland colony was located in the upper Hudson Valley. In the seventeenth century, the French established trading posts as far south as the shores of Onondaga Lake, although Samuel de Champlain had alienated the Haudenosaunee during military forays from Quebec. The area was the scene of much of the fighting in the French and Indian War, events which were depicted in the work of James Fenimore Cooper.

In the 1640s, three French Jesuit missionaries to New France (now Canada)—St. René Goupil, St. Isaac Jogues, and St. Jean de Lalande—were killed by the Iroquois in Auriesville (then known as Ossernenon). They are considered the first three U.S. saints.

American Revolution[link]

Much of upstate New York was, in the years immediately prior to the Revolutionary War, disputed territory. Pennsylvania Colony claimed much of the Southern Tier as its own up until 1774, while Massachusetts Bay Colony claimed all of the region west of the Preemption Line. This was in addition to New York Colony's claims, which placed the entire region in the sprawling Albany County.

The region was strategically important in the American Revolution, and was the scene of several important battles, including the Battle of Saratoga, which is considered to have been a significant turning point in the war. While New York City remained in the hands of the British during most of the war, the upstate region was eventually dominated by the Colonial forces. In 1779, the Sullivan Expedition, a campaign ordered by Gen. George Washington, drove thousands of the Haudenosaunee from their villages, farms and lands in the region.

Post-Revolutionary Period[link]

Following the American Revolution, the United States signed a federal treaty, the Treaty of Canandaigua, with the Haudenosaunee, affirming their land rights in what later became Central and Western New York. Nevertheless, State officials and private land agents continued to work to extinguish Indian title to these lands via non-Federally-sanctioned treaties, such as the Treaty of Big Tree[1], through the early 19th century.

Many of the settlers of Central and Western New York came from the New England States. The Central New York Military Tract, where many of the townships were given the names of classical military and literary figures by Robert Harpur, was established to grant land to Revolutionary War veterans.

Battles with British were fought during the war of 1812 (1812–1815), on land, including the Battle of Plattsburgh, and in the Great Lakes (Ontario and Erie) and St. Lawrence shorelines, including the Battle of Sackets Harbor.

Both before and after the Revolution, boundary disputes with Massachusetts, Vermont and Great Britain, and subsequent surveying errors, complicated American settlement. The Province of New York granted lands to settlers in what is now Vermont at the same time that New Hampshire made grants of the same lands. When Vermont declared independence in 1777, the new Republic of Vermont recognized the New Hampshire grants over those of New York. New Yorkers who lost land in Vermont came to be known as the "Vermont Sufferers" and were granted new lands in 1788 in the Town of Bainbridge, New York.

The dispute with Massachusetts over lands to the west of Massachusetts was settled in the 1786 Treaty of Hartford by dividing the rights to the land. The treaty granted sovereignty to the State of New York, but granted to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the "pre-emptive" right to seek title to the land from the Haudenosaunee. The eastern boundary of the Massachusetts lands was thus known as the Preemption Line. This line runs from the Pennsylvania line due north to Lake Ontario, passing through Seneca Lake. The line was surveyed a second time due to initial errors. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts sold this land in large tracts, including the Phelps and Gorham Purchase and the Holland Purchase.

The Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution established the 45th Parallel as the border with Quebec. This line was surveyed and after the War of 1812, the US Government began to construct Fort Montgomery just south of the border at Rouses Point on Lake Champlain. Subsequently it was discovered that at that point, the actual 45th parallel was three-quarters of a mile south of the surveyed line, putting the Fort, which became known as "Fort Blunder," in Canada. This was not resolved until 1842 with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, in which Great Britain and the United States decided to leave the border on the meandering line as surveyed.

Slavery existed in New Netherland and the Province of New York. New York was in the 1690s the largest importer of slaves among the American colonies. Slavery did not end with the American Revolution, although John Jay introduced an emancipation bill in to the State Assembly as early as 1777. Sojourner Truth was held as a slave in the Hudson Valley from the time she was born in 1797 until she escaped in 1826. Through efforts of the New York Manumission Society and others, New York began to adopt a policy of gradual emancipation in 1799. The law passed in 1817 that would finally emancipate slaves did not take effect for ten years, giving slaveowners an entire decade to sell their slaves away to other states. When the law finally took effect, the last 2,800 slaves in New York State were emancipated on July 4, 1827.

19th century[link]

By 1825, the Erie Canal opened, allowing the area to become an important component of the 19th century industrial expansion in the United States. The canal also promoted trade with British North America and settlement of newer states in western territories. Later in the century the New York Central Railroad followed the "water-level route" from New York City to the Great Lakes, contributing to the industrialization of cities along its route.

Several times in the nineteenth century, Upstate New York served as a staging area and refuge for Canadian rebels against Great Britain, as well as Irish-American invaders of Canada, straining British-American relations. In 1837 and 1838, in the aftermath of the Lower Canada Rebellion, some Québécois rebels escaped south to the North Country, while on the Niagara Frontier, events of the Upper Canada Rebellion, also known as the Patriot War, took place. In the late 1860s, some of the Fenian Raids were launched across the Niagara Frontier; Fenians also assembled in Malone.

Although now largely discredited, the report of the 1905-1907 Mills Commission, charged with investigating the origins of baseball, named Cooperstown as the place where baseball was invented in the 1830s or 1840s by Abner Doubleday. Cooperstown is the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

In the pre-Civil War era, Upstate New York became a major center of radical abolitionist activity and was an important nexus of the Underground Railroad. Resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act was particularly heated in the region, as evidenced by such events as the Jerry Rescue. The American women's rights movement was also born in Upstate New York at this time; the first women's rights convention was held at Seneca Falls in 1848.

Through the nineteenth century, Upstate New York was a hotbed of religious revivalism. A number of sects, such as the Shakers and the Oneida Community, established themselves in Upstate New York during that time. This led evangelist Charles Grandison Finney to coin the term the "Burned-Over District" for the region. Because of the comparative isolation of the region, many of the sects were non-conformist, and because of their non-traditional tenets they had numerous difficulties with government and other local people. The region is considered to be the cradle of Mormonism, as well as the Women's Suffrage movement. The Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists and Spiritualists are the only 21st century survivors of the hundreds of sects created during this time.

In the 19th century, extractive industries changed the landscape. Potash was manufactured as the land was cleared for farming. Logging was rampant in the Adirondacks. Iron was mined in the Adirondacks and the North Country. By the 1870s, business leaders, concerned about the effect of deforestation on the water supply necessary to the Erie Canal, advocated for the creation of forest preserves in the Adirondacks and the Catskills. The Adirondack Park and Catskill Park were created and strengthened by a series of legislation between 1885 and 1894, when the "Forever wild" provision of the New York State Constitution was added.

20th Century[link]

During the era immediately following World War II, Upstate reached what was probably its peak influence in the national economy. Major local corporations such as IBM, General Electric, Kodak, Xerox and Carrier produced cutting edge products for business, government and consumers. The opening of the New York State Thruway in the mid 1950s gave the region superior access to other eastern markets. This regional advantage faded as many local firms relocated operations to other states, or downsized in the face of foreign competition, similar to other areas in the American Rust Belt.

In recent decades, with the decline of manufacturing, the area has generally suffered a net population loss. In contrast, many Amish and Mennonite families are recent arrivals to the area. Beginning in 1974, many Mennonite families moved to the Penn Yan area of Yates County from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, seeking cheaper farmland. Recently-established Amish communities are in St. Lawrence, Montgomery, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties.

Additionally, Upstate New York continues to boast low crime rates, high educational prospects, and readily affordable daily essentials, earning Syracuse, New York, Rochester, New York, Albany, New York, Schenectady, New York, and Buffalo, New York spots in the Forbes magazine list of top ten places to raise a family in the United States. [2]

Five of the six Iroquois nations have filed land claims against New York State (or have sought settlement of pending claims), based on late 18th-century treaties with the State of New York and the United States.

Politics[link]

Main Article: Politics of Upstate New York

Often attributed to the region's semi-rural character, there is more conservatism in culture and politics than found in the more urban downstate area, and is the power base of the state's Republican Party. Upstate New York does however have several Democratic counties including Erie County (Buffalo), Monroe County (Rochester), Onondaga County (Syracuse), Tompkins County (Ithaca), Albany County (Albany), Broome County (Binghamton), Clinton (Plattsburgh), Franklin County (Malone), St. Lawrence County (Massena, Potsdam, Ogdensburg) and Ulster County (Kingston, Woodstock, New Paltz).

As a whole, Upstate New York is roughly equally divided in Federal elections between Democrats and Republicans. In 2004, John Kerry defeated George W. Bush by fewer than 1,500 votes (1,553,246 votes to 1,551,971) in the Upstate Region.

People, events and ideas[link]

Environment[link]

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: this section is just a bunch of "see also"s. Please help improve this article if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (January 2011)

Flora and fauna[link]

• Seneca White Deer

Diseases[link]

• White nose syndrome (WNS) is a poorly understood malady associated with the deaths of hundreds of thousands of bats. The condition was first identified in several caves near Albany in February 2006.

Endangered species[link]

• the Karner Blue butterfly, identified by the novelist and lepidopterist Vladimir Nabokov near the former Pine Bush region hamlet of Karner, New York, between Albany and Schenectady.
• the Chittenango ovate amber snail is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in the family Succineidae, the amber snails. It is endemic to the Chittenango area. The only verified extant colony of the snail is at Chittenango Falls State Park.

Extinctions[link]

• Labrador Duck

Human History[link]

• Reynoldston, New York

Invasive species[link]

• The Emerald Ash Borer [3]
• The Lamprey
• The Zebra Mussel
• The Spiny Water Flea
• The Euraisian Water Milfoil
• The Asian Clam
• Common Reed Grass

Issues[link]

• Acid rain, caused in Upstate New York by Midwestern coal-fired power plants [4]
• Proposed natural gas exploration in the Marcellus Shale formation

Superfund sites[link]

Upstate New York has many Superfund sites.^[17]

• the Hudson River, contaminated with PCBs at Hudson Falls and Fort Edward
• Love Canal, a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York which became the subject of national attention and controversy following the discovery of toxic waste buried beneath the neighborhood
• Onondaga Lake, one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world^[18]

Historic events[link]

• Hurricane Agnes, 1972
• Attica Prison riot, 1971
• Hurricane Irene, 2011
• The first execution via the electric chair, in Auburn Prison in 1890
• The Jerry Rescue
• The 1901 assassination of President William McKinley in Buffalo, prompting his Vice-President Teddy Roosevelt to travel to Buffalo twice: first, after learning of McKinley's shooting, from Isle La Motte, Vermont in Lake Champlain; then, having left Buffalo as McKinley was appearing to recover, from an Adirondack hunting trip upon learning of McKinley's death, to be sworn in as McKinley's successor. Anarchist Leon Czolgosz, McKinley's assassin, was subsequently electrocuted in Auburn Prison.
• The Northeast Blackout of 1965
• The Northeast Blackout of 2003
• The 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention held in the United States
• The Battle of Saratoga, turning point of the American Revolutionary War.
• The Battle of Oriskany, 1777
• The Binghamton shootings
• Continental Airlines Flight 3407
• the Angola Horror train wreck, 1867 [5]
• the Cherry Valley massacre, 1778
• The collapse of the New York State Thruway Bridge over Schoharie Creek, 1987 [6]
• the Split Rock Explosion, 1918
• the Sullivan Campaign, 1779
• The Morgan Affair

Journalists[link]

• Gordon Ackerman
• Samuel Hopkins Adams, muckraker, born in Dunkirk
• Wolf Blitzer was raised in Buffalo
• Amy Dickinson, Chicago Tribune advice columnist, who grew up on a dairy farm in Freeville
• Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), editor and publisher of abolitionist newspapers: The North Star, published in Rochester, Frederick Douglass Weekly, Frederick Douglass' Paper, Douglass' Monthly and New National Era.
• Ira Joe Fisher, author and weatherman, who was born and raised in Little Valley
• Verlyn Klinkenborg, member of the New York Times editorial board; writer and farmer
• Francis Mallison of Rome. Journalist, editor and public servant. Editor of the Rome Sentinel, reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle. He and editor Joseph Howard, Jr. organized the "Great Civil War Gold Hoax", for which he was held as a prisoner of war.
• Henry Jarvis Raymond, born in Lima, was the founder of the New York Times. He was the newspaper's editor until his death.
• Andy Rooney
• Tim Russert, late host of NBC's Meet the Press, born and raised in Buffalo
• Dorothy Thompson, born in Lancaster
• James Watson Webb, born in Claverack and raised in Cooperstown, was the publisher of the New York newspapers the Morning Courier and the New York Enquirer, which he consolidated as the Courier and Enquirer. He also became a United States diplomat and a New York politician in the Whig and Republican parties.
• John Zogby of Utica, pollster and blogger

Social, political and religious movements[link]

• Abolitionism
• Anti-Masonic Party
• The Anti-Rent War
• Ararat, City of Refuge
• Brothertown
• The Chautauqua Institution
• The Frankean Synod
• Ganienkeh Territory [7]
• The Inspirationalists
• Kanatsiohareke[8]
• Latter Day Saint movement
• Lily Dale
• The Millerites
• Modern Spiritualism
• Occupy Binghamton
• The Oneida Community
• The Second Great Awakening
• The Shakers
• The Universal Friends
• Women's Suffrage

Spiritual and religious figures[link]

• Saint Marianne Cope
• Jehudi Ashmun, religious leader and social reformer born in Champlain, New York. He was an agent of the American Colonization Society which promoted the settlement of blacks at Monrovia, Liberia and was effectively governor of the colony from 1824 to 1828.
• Antoinette Brown, minister, abolitionist and suffragist. Born in Henrietta, she was the first woman to be ordained as a minister in the United States. She served a congregation in South Butler.
• Avery Dulles, S.J., born in Auburn
• Charles Grandison Finney
• Harry Emerson Fosdick, clergyman. He was born in Buffalo, and graduated from Colgate University.
• David Marks
• George Washington Gale
• Handsome Lake
• Mother Ann Lee
• Oren Lyons
• William Miller (preacher)
• Mordecai Manuel Noah
• John Humphrey Noyes
• Walter Rauschenbusch, a Christian theologian, Baptist minister and a key figure in the Social Gospel movement in the United States, was born in Rochester. His father was a preacher who taught at the Rochester Theological Seminary.
• Joseph Smith
• Saint Kateri Tekakwitha
• Jemima Wilkinson

Places[link]

Major cities[link]

• Albany (the state capital)
• Auburn
• Binghamton
• Buffalo (the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City)
• Cortland
• Elmira
• Glens Falls
• Ithaca
• Jamestown
• Kingston
• Middletown
• Newburgh
• Niagara Falls
• Plattsburgh
• Poughkeepsie
• Rochester
• Rome
• Saratoga Springs
• Schenectady
• Syracuse
• Troy
• Utica
• Watertown

Major highways[link]

• The New York State Thruway
• The Adirondack Northway
• The Taconic State Parkway
• Interstate 81
• Interstate 84
• Interstate 86, incorporating the Southern Tier Expressway and the Quickway
• Interstate 87
• Interstate 88
• Interstate 90

Major tourist attractions and destinations[link]

• Adirondack Mountains
• Ausable Chasm
• Baseball Hall of Fame (in Cooperstown)
• Catskill Mountains
• Corning Museum of Glass
• Darien Lake
• Erie Canal
• Farmers' Museum (in Cooperstown)
• Finger Lakes
• Fort Niagara
• Fort Ontario
• Fort Ticonderoga
• Fort Stanwix
• Garnet Hill Lodge & Cross Country Ski Center (in North River, New York)
• The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom
• Howe Caverns
• International Boxing Hall of Fame (in Canastota)
• Lake George
• Lake Placid, NY
• Letchworth State Park
• National Distance Running Hall of Fame (in Utica, New York)
• Niagara Falls
• Saratoga Race Course
• Seabreeze Amusement Park
• Soccer Hall of Fame (in Oneonta)
• Sylvan Beach
• Syracuse
• Thousand Islands
• Turning Stone Resort & Casino (in Verona)

Major universities and colleges[link]

• Public
  • State University of New York (SUNY)
    • SUNY Alfred
    • SUNY Albany
    • SUNY Binghamton
    • SUNY Brockport
    • SUNY University at Buffalo
    • SUNY College at Buffalo
    • SUNY Cobleskill
    • SUNY Cortland
    • Empire State College
    • SUNY ESF
    • SUNY Fredonia
    • SUNY Geneseo
    • SUNY Institute of Technology in Utica/Rome
    • SUNY New Paltz
    • SUNY Oneonta
    • SUNY Oswego
    • SUNY Plattsburgh
    • SUNY Potsdam
    • SUNY Upstate Medical University
  • United States Military Academy at West Point
• Private
  • Alfred University
  • Bard College
  • Canisius College
  • Clarkson University
  • The College of Saint Rose
  • Colgate University
  • Cornell University
  • D'Youville College
  • Elmira College
  • Hamilton College
  • Hartwick College
  • Hobart and William Smith Colleges
  • Houghton College
  • Ithaca College
  • Keuka College
  • Le Moyne College
  • Marist College
  • Mount Saint Mary College
  • Nazareth College
  • Niagara University
  • Paul Smith's College
  • Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  • Roberts Wesleyan College
  • University of Rochester
  • Rochester Institute of Technology
  • Russell Sage College
  • St. Bonaventure University
  • St John Fisher College
  • St. Lawrence University
  • Skidmore College
  • Siena College
  • Syracuse University
  • Union College
  • Utica College
  • Vassar College
  • Wells College

Subregions[link]

• Adirondack Mountains
• Capital District (Albany and the surrounding area)
• Catskill Mountains
• Central-Leatherstocking Region (includes Cooperstown)
• Central New York (Syracuse and the surrounding area)
• Finger Lakes (between Rochester and Syracuse)
• The Holland Purchase
• Hudson Valley (except Rockland County and Westchester County, though in general increasingly part of the New York metro area culturally)

Hudson Valley Portal

• Mohawk Valley (includes Utica and Schenectady)
• North Country (extreme Northern frontier of New York, north of the Adirondacks, often refers to itself as the "true" upstate)
• Shawangunk Ridge
• Ski country (the northern boundary of the Southern Tier, includes Cortland, Clymer and Ellicottville
• Southern Tier (just north of Pennsylvania, excluding the Catskills; includes Binghamton, Corning and Elmira)
• Western New York (the westernmost tip; includes Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Jamestown, and sometimes Rochester)

See also[link]

New York portal

• Upstate secession
• List of New York-related topics

Notes and references[link]

Other sources[link]

• Eisenstadt, Peter (Ed.) The Encyclopedia of New York State. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8156-0808-X
• Beauchamp, William M. Indian Names in New York. Fayetteville, NY: Recorder Office, 1893.

External links[link]

• Old Abandoned Buildings of Northern NY The urban decay of upstate NY, in pictures from the area.
• New York History Net
• Oral History of Franklin County Listen to and read the history of Franklin County NY in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries

v t e  State of New York Albany (capital) The Empire State Topics Administrative divisions Bibliography Congressional districts Constitution Demographics Economy Education Elections Geography Government Governor Legislature Court System History Symbols People Politics Transportation Visitor Attractions Regions Adirondack Mountains Allegheny Plateau Capital District Catskill Mountains Central Region (formerly Central-Leatherstocking) Central New York Champlain Valley City of New York Finger Lakes Holland Purchase Hudson Highlands Hudson Valley Long Island Mohawk Valley New York Metro Niagara Frontier North Country Ridge and Valley Saint Lawrence Seaway Shawangunks Ski country Southern Tier Southtowns Tech Valley Thousand Islands Upstate Western Metro areas Albany / Schenectady / Troy Binghamton Buffalo / Niagara Falls Elmira / Corning Glens Falls Ithaca Kingston New York City Poughkeepsie / Newburgh / Middletown Rochester Syracuse Utica / Rome Counties Albany Allegany Bronx Broome Cattaraugus Cayuga Chautauqua Chemung Chenango Clinton Columbia Cortland Delaware Dutchess Erie Essex Franklin Fulton Genesee Greene Hamilton Herkimer Jefferson Kings Lewis Livingston Madison Monroe Montgomery Nassau New York Niagara Oneida Onondaga Ontario Orange Orleans Oswego Otsego Putnam Queens Rensselaer Richmond Rockland Saint Lawrence Saratoga Schenectady Schoharie Schuyler Seneca Steuben Suffolk Sullivan Tioga Tompkins Ulster Warren Washington Wayne Westchester Wyoming Yates

State of New York
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): The Empire State
Motto(s): Excelsior (Latin)[1] Ever upward
Demonym	New Yorker
Capital	Albany
Largest city	New York City
Largest metro area	New York City Metropolitan Area
Area	Ranked 27th in the U.S.
- Total	54,556[2] sq mi (141,300 km2)
- Width	285 miles (455 km)
- Length	330 miles (530 km)
- % water	13.5
- Latitude	40° 30′ N to 45° 1′ N
- Longitude	71° 51′ W to 79° 46′ W
Population	Ranked 3rd in the U.S.
- Total	19,465,197 (2011 est)[3]
- Density	412/sq mi  (159/km2) Ranked 7th in the U.S.
Elevation
- Highest point	Mount Marcy[4][5][6] 5,343 ft (1628.57 m)
- Mean	1,000 ft  (300 m)
- Lowest point	Atlantic Ocean[5][6] sea level
Admission to Union	July 26, 1788 (11th)
Governor	Andrew Cuomo (D)
Lieutenant Governor	Robert Duffy (D)
Legislature	New York Legislature
- Upper house	State Senate
- Lower house	State Assembly
U.S. Senators	Charles Schumer (D) Kirsten Gillibrand (D)
U.S. House delegation	21 Democrats, 8 Republicans (list)
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Abbreviations	NY US-NY
Website	www.ny.gov

New York (/njuː ˈjɔrk/; locally IPA: [nɪu ˈjɔək] or [nuː ˈjɔɹk] ( listen)) is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. New York is the 27th most extensive, the 3rd most populous, and the 7th most densely populated of the 50 United States. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border with Rhode Island east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Ontario to the west and north, and Quebec to the north. The state of New York is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City.

New York City, with a population of over 8.1 million, is the most populous city in the United States. Alone, it makes up over 40 percent of the population of New York state. It is known for its status as a center for finance and culture and for its status as the largest gateway for immigration to the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, New York City is also a destination of choice for many foreign visitors. Both the state and city were named for the 17th century Duke of York, James Stuart, future James II and VII of England and Scotland.

New York was inhabited by various tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian speaking Native American tribes at the time Dutch settlers moved into the region in the early 17th century. In 1609, the region was first claimed by Henry Hudson for the Dutch. Fort Nassau was built near the site of the present-day capital of Albany in 1614. The Dutch soon also settled New Amsterdam and parts of the Hudson River Valley, establishing the colony of New Netherland. The British took over the colony by annexation in 1664.

The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were roughly similar to those of the present-day state. About one third of all the battles of the Revolutionary War took place in New York. The state constitution was enacted in 1777. New York became the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution, on July 26, 1788.

History[link]

17th century[link]

Henry Hudson's 1609 voyage marked the beginning of the European involvement with that area. Sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year. After his return word of his findings quickly spread and Dutch merchants began to explore the coast in search for profitable fur trade. During the 17th century, Dutch trading posts established for the trade of pelts from the Lenape, Iroquois and other indigenous peoples expanded into the colony of New Netherland. The first of these trading posts were Fort Nassau (1614, near present-day Albany); Fort Orange (1624, on the Hudson River just south of the current city of Albany and created to replace Fort Nassau), developing into settlement Beverwijck (1647), and into what became Albany; Fort Amsterdam (1625, to develop into the town New Amsterdam which is present-day New York City); and Esopus, (1653, now Kingston). The success of the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck (1630), which surrounded Albany and lasted until the mid 19th century, was also a key factor in the early success of the colony. The English captured the colony during the Second Anglo-Dutch War and governed it as the Province of New York. The city of New York was recaptured by the Dutch once again in 1673 during the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672–1674) and renamed New Orange, but returned to the English under the terms of the Treaty of Westminster a year later.^[7]

American Revolution[link]

New York in 1777

The Sons of Liberty were organized in New York City during the 1760s, largely in response to the oppressive Stamp Act passed by the British Parliament in 1765. The Stamp Act Congress met in the city on October 19 of that year: a gathering of representatives from across the Thirteen Colonies that set the stage for the Continental Congress to follow. The Stamp Act Congress resulted in the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which was the first written expression by representatives of the Americans of many of the rights and complaints later expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence, including the right to representative government.

The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga provided the cannon and gunpowder necessary to force a British withdrawal from the Siege of Boston in 1775.

New York endorsed the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776.^[8] The New York state constitution was framed by a convention which assembled at White Plains, New York on July 10, 1776, and after repeated adjournments and changes of location, terminated its labors at Kingston, New York on Sunday evening, April 20, 1777, when the new constitution drafted by John Jay was adopted with but one dissenting vote. It was not submitted to the people for ratification. On July 30, 1777, George Clinton was inaugurated as the first Governor of New York at Kingston.

The first major battle of the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared—and the largest battle of the entire war—was fought in New York at the Battle of Long Island (a.k.a. Battle of Brooklyn) in August 1776. British victory made New York City their military and political base of operations in North America for the duration of the conflict, and consequently the center of attention for General George Washington's intelligence network.

The notorious British prison ships of Wallabout Bay saw more American combatants die of intentional neglect than were killed in combat in every battle of the war, combined.

The first of two major British armies were captured by the Continental Army at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, influencing France to ally with the revolutionaries.

In an attempt to retain their sovereignty and remain an independent nation positioned between the new United States and British North America, four of the Iroquois nations fought on the side of the British; only the Oneidas and their dependents the Tuscaroras allied themselves to the Americans.^[9] The Sullivan Expedition of 1778 and 1779 destroyed nearly 50 Iroquois villages and adjacent croplands, forcing many refugees to British-held Niagara.^[10] As allies of the British, the Iroquois were resettled in Canada after the war. In the treaty settlement, the British ceded most Indian lands to the new United States. Because New York made treaty with the Iroquois without getting Congressional approval, some of the land purchases are the subject of modern-day claims by the individual tribes. More than 5 million acres (20,000 km²) of former Iroquois territory was put up for sale in the years after the Revolutionary War, leading to rapid development in upstate New York.^[11] As per the Treaty of Paris, the last vestige of British authority in the former Thirteen Colonies—their troops in New York City—departed in 1783, which was long afterwards celebrated as Evacuation Day.^[12]

Following heated debate, which included the publication of the now quintessential constitutional interpretation—the Federalist Papers—as a series of installments in New York City newspapers, New York was the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution, on July 26, 1788.^[13]

19th century[link]

The creation of the Erie Canal led to rapid industrialization in New York.

Transportation in western New York was difficult before canals were built in the early part of the 19th century. The Hudson and Mohawk Rivers could be navigated only as far as Central New York. While the St. Lawrence River could be navigated to Lake Ontario, the way westward to the other Great Lakes was blocked by Niagara Falls, and so the only route to western New York was over land.

Governor DeWitt Clinton strongly advocated building a canal to connect the Hudson River with Lake Erie, and thus all the Great Lakes. Work commenced in 1817, and the Erie Canal was finished in 1825. It was considered an engineering marvel. Packet boats traveled up and down the canal with sightseers and visitors on board.^[14] The canal opened up vast areas of New York to commerce and settlement. It enabled Great Lakes port cities such as Buffalo and Rochester to grow and prosper. It also connected the burgeoning agricultural production of the Midwest and shipping on the Great Lakes, with the port of New York City. Improving transportation, it enabled additional population migration to territories west of New York.

Ellis Island[link]

Scenes at the Immigration Depot and a nearby dock on Ellis Island

Ellis Island in 1905

Ellis Island was the main facility for immigrants, entering the United States in the late 19th century to the mid 20th century. It was opened when the federal government took over the responsibility for processing immigrants, prior to that it was the responsibility of the states. It replaced the prior New York State immigration center located at Castle Clinton, a War of 1812 era fort located in what is today Battery Park, through which at least 8 million immigrants such as Harry Houdini, passed through from 1855–1890.^[15]

Ellis Island operated as an immigration center from January 1, 1892, until November 12, 1954. It is owned by the Federal government and is now part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. It is situated in New York Harbor, between two states and cities, Jersey City, New Jersey and New York City, New York.

More than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island, between 1892 and 1954. After 1924, when the National Origins Act was passed, the only immigrants to pass through there were displaced persons or war refugees.^[16] Today, over 100 million Americans can trace their ancestry to the immigrants, who first arrived in America through Castle Clinton and Ellis Island, before dispersing to points all over the country. Ellis Island was the subject of a border dispute between New York State and New Jersey. The issue was settled in 1998 by the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled that the original 3.3 acre island was New York State territory and that the balance of the 27.5 acres (11 ha) added after 1834 by landfill was in New Jersey.

Statue of Liberty[link]

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi, was a gift from France to the United States to mark the Centennial of the American Declaration of Independence. The idea of giving a colossal representation of republican virtues to a "sister" republic, across the sea, served as a focus for the republican cause against other politicians. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor on October 28, 1886.

Liberty Island closed on September 11, 2001; the island reopened in December, the monument reopened on August 3, 2004, but the statue remained closed until the summer of 2009. The National Park Service claims that the statue is not shut because of a terrorist threat, but principally because of a long list of fire regulation contraventions, including inadequate evacuation procedures. The museum and ten-story pedestal are open for visitors, but are only accessible if visitors have a "Monument Access Pass", which is a reservation that visitors must make in advance of their visit and pick up before boarding the ferry. There are a maximum of 3000 passes available each day, with a total of 15,000 visitors to the island daily. The interior of the statue remains closed, although a glass ceiling in the pedestal allows for views of Gustave Eiffel's iron framework of Lady Liberty.

Geography[link]

New York terrain.

Map of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers.

New York covers 54,556 square miles (141,300 km²) and ranks as the 27th largest state by size.^[2] The Great Appalachian Valley dominates eastern New York, while Lake Champlain is the chief northern feature of the valley, which also includes the Hudson River flowing southward to the Atlantic Ocean. The rugged Adirondack Mountains, with vast tracts of wilderness, lie west of the valley.

Most of the southern part of the state is on the Allegheny Plateau, which rises from the southeast to the Catskill Mountains. The western section of the state is drained by the Allegheny River and rivers of the Susquehanna and Delaware systems. The Delaware River Basin Compact, signed in 1961 by New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the federal government, regulates the utilization of water of the Delaware system. The highest elevation in New York is Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks.^[17]

New York's borders touch (clockwise from the west) two Great Lakes (Erie and Ontario, which are connected by the Niagara River); the provinces of Ontario and Quebec in Canada; Lake Champlain; three New England states (Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut); the Atlantic Ocean, and two Mid-Atlantic States, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In addition, Rhode Island shares a water border with New York. New York is the only state that touches both the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, and is the second-largest of the original Thirteen Colonies.

In contrast with New York City's urban atmosphere, the vast majority of the state is dominated by farms, forests, rivers, mountains, and lakes. New York's Adirondack Park is the largest state park in the United States. It is larger than the Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier and Olympic National Parks combined.^[18] New York established the first state park in the United States at Niagara Falls in 1885. Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River as it flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, is a popular attraction.

The Hudson River begins at Lake Tear of the Clouds and flows south through the eastern part of the state without draining Lakes George or Champlain. Lake George empties at its north end into Lake Champlain, whose northern end extends into Canada, where it drains into the Richelieu and then the St. Lawrence Rivers. Four of New York City's five boroughs are on three islands at the mouth of the Hudson River: Manhattan Island; Staten Island; and Long Island, which contains Brooklyn and Queens on its western end.

Upstate and downstate are often used informally to distinguish New York City or its greater metropolitan area from the rest of New York State. The placement of a boundary between the two is a matter of great contention.^[19] Unofficial and loosely defined regions of Upstate New York include the Southern Tier, which often includes the counties along the border with Pennsylvania,^[20] and the North Country, which can mean anything from the strip along the Canadian border to everything north of the Mohawk River.^[21]

Climate[link]

Lake-effect snow is a major contributor to snowfall totals in western New York.

In general, New York has a humid continental climate, though under the Köppen climate classification, New York City has a humid subtropical climate.^[22] Weather in New York is heavily influenced by two continental air masses: a warm, humid one from the southwest and a cold, dry one from the northwest.

The winters are long and cold in the Plateau Divisions of the state. In the majority of winter seasons, a temperature of −13 °F (−25 °C) or lower can be expected in the northern highlands (Northern Plateau) and 5 °F (−15 °C) or colder in the southwestern and east-central highlands (Southern Plateau). The summer climate is cool in the Adirondacks, Catskills and higher elevations of the Southern Plateau.

The New York City/Long Island area and lower portions of the Hudson Valley have rather warm summers by comparison, with some periods of high, uncomfortable humidity. The remainder of New York State enjoys pleasantly warm summers, marred by only occasional, brief intervals of sultry conditions. Summer daytime temperatures usually range from the upper 70s to mid 80s °F (25 to 30 °C), over much of the state.

New York ranks 46th among the 50 states in the amount of greenhouse gases generated per person. This relative efficiency is primarily due to the state's higher rate of mass transit use.^[23]

Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various New York Cities^[24]

(Fahrenheit)

City		Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Albany	max min	31 13	34 16	44 25	57 36	70 46	78 55	82 60	80 58	71 50	60 39	48 31	36 20
Binghamton	max min	28 15	31 17	41 25	53 35	66 46	73 54	78 59	76 57	68 50	57 40	44 31	33 21
Buffalo	max min	31 18	33 19	42 26	54 36	66 48	75 57	80 62	78 60	70 53	59 43	47 34	36 24
Lake Placid	max min	27 5	32 8	40 16	54 29	66 39	74 48	78 53	76 51	69 44	56 34	44 25	32 12
Long Beach	max min	39 23	40 24	48 31	58 40	69 49	77 60	83 66	82 64	75 57	64 45	54 36	44 28
New York City	max min	38 26	41 28	50 35	61 44	71 54	79 63	84 69	82 68	75 60	64 50	53 41	43 32
Rochester	max min	31 17	33 17	43 25	55 35	68 46	77 55	81 60	79 59	71 51	60 41	47 33	36 23
Syracuse	max min	31 14	34 16	43 24	56 35	68 46	77 55	82 60	80 59	71 51	60 40	47 32	36 21

Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various New York Cities

(Celsius)

City		Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Albany	max min	−1 −11	1 −9	7 −4	14 2	21 8	26 13	28 16	27 14	22 10	16 4	9 −1	2 −7
Binghamton	max min	−2 −9	−1 −8	5 −4	12 2	19 8	23 12	26 15	24 14	20 10	14 4	7 −1	1 −6
Buffalo	max min	−1 −8	1 −7	6 −3	12 2	19 9	24 14	27 17	26 16	21 12	15 6	8 1	2 −4
Lake Placid	max min	−3 −15	0 −13	4 −9	12 −2	19 4	23 9	26 12	24 11	21 7	13 1	7 −4	0 −11
Long Beach	max min	4 −5	4 −4	9 −1	14 4	21 9	25 16	28 19	28 18	24 14	18 7	12 2	7 −2
New York City	max min	3 −3	5 −2	10 2	16 7	22 12	26 17	29 21	28 20	24 16	18 10	12 5	6 0
Rochester	max min	−1 −8	1 −8	6 −4	13 2	20 8	25 13	27 16	26 15	22 11	16 5	8 1	2 −5
Syracuse	max min	−1 −10	1 −9	6 −4	13 2	20 8	25 13	28 16	27 15	22 11	16 4	8 0	2 −6
Converted from Fahrenheit data (above)