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Long Island has a climate that is very similar to other coastal areas of the Northeastern United States; it has warm, humid summers and cold winters, but the Atlantic Ocean helps bring afternoon sea breezes that temper the heat in the warmer months and limit the frequency and severity of thunderstorms. In the wintertime, temperatures are warmer than areas further inland (especially in the night and early morning hours), sometimes causing a snowstorm further inland to fall as rain on the island. However, measurable snow falls every winter, and in many winters one or more intense storms called Nor'easters produce blizzard conditions with snowfalls of 1-2 feet and near-hurricane force winds. Long Island temperatures also vary from west to east, with the western part of the island warmer on most occasions than the east. This is due to two factors; one because the western part is closer to the mainland and the other is the western part is more developed causing what is known as the "urban heat island" effect. The eastern part is cooler on most occasions due to the ocean and sound and it is less developed. On dry nights with no clouds or wind, the Pine Barrens in eastern Suffolk County can be almost 20 Fahrenheit degrees cooler due to radiational cooling.
Long Island is somewhat vulnerable to hurricanes. [1]. Its northern location and relatively cool waters tend to weaken storms to below hurricane strength by the time they reach Long Island. Despite this, some storms had made landfall at Category 1 or greater strength, including two unnamed Category 3 storms in 1938 (New England Hurricane of 1938) and 1944, Hurricane Donna in 1960, Hurricane Belle in 1976, Hurricane Gloria in 1985, Hurricane Bob in 1991 (brushed the eastern tip), and Hurricane Floyd in 1999.
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The counties of Suffolk have long been renowned for their affluence. With median home prices rising in excess of $400,000 USD, Long Island has a very high standard of living rate with residents paying some of the highest property taxes in the country. Such affluence is especially pervasive among the towns on the North Shore of Long Island also known as the 'Gold Coast'.
Long Island is home to some of the most expensive houses in the country. In fact, the most expensive residence in the country is Three Ponds in Bridgehampton. [2] Long Island is home to the luxury communities of the Hamptons, as well as Cold Spring Harbor and Lloyd Harbor in Suffolk County and Garden City, Laurel Hollow, and Manhasset in Nassau County.
The economy of Long Island has long benefitted from its proximity to New United States with companies such as Grumman making its headquarters in the area. In recent decades companies such as Computer Associates, headquartered in Islandia, have made Long Island a center for the computer industry. Nevertheless, the eastern end of the island is still partly agricultural, now including many vineyards as well as traditional truck farming. Fishing also continues to be an important industry, especially at Northport and Montauk.
 A Long Island fisherman cleans his nets
A Long Island fisherman cleans his nets
Since World War II, Long Island has become increasingly suburban and, in some areas, fully urbanized. Levittown was only the first of many new suburbs, and businesses followed residential development eastward.
Long Island is home to the east coast's largest industrial park, the Hauppauge Industrial Park. The park has over 1,300 companies, and employs over 55,000 Long Islanders. Companies in the park and abroad are represented by the Hauppauge Industrial Association.
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In 2005, Forbes magazine listed Long Island as having 2,042 crimes per 100,000 residents; the lowest crime rate and less than half the US average [3].
The island is patrolled by the Nassau County Police Department (reportedly the second highest paid police force in the country), the Suffolk County Police Department (the highest paid), The New York State Troopers, and several dozen town and village police departments. Both counties also have a sheriff's office which handles civil process, domestic violence, as well as running the county jails. Nassau County Sheriff's deputies have full police officer powers and enforce all NYS laws including the issuance of Vehicle and Traffic Law summonses. Suffolk County Sheriff's deputies have full police officer powers and a patrol divsion which mainly operates in the Eastern part of the county. New York City Sheriff deputies are peace officers and have no patrol function.
See List of Long Island law enforcement agencies
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Modern music has a long history on Long Island, as it has long been part of US history, and it being close to the largest population center in North America, yet located in the suburbs and containing strong influences of youth culture. Psychedelic music was widely popular in the 1960s as flocks of disaffected youth travelled to NYC to participate in protest and the culture of the time. R & B also has a history in Long Island, especially in Nassau County, where population is denser and more closely influenced by New York City (Queens and Brooklyn).
Long Island, known in the hip-hop community, and by college students as Strong Island, was home to the members of the groundbreaking rap groups Public Enemy and De La Soul. Method Man and Busta Rhymes also share roots in Long Island. One of the genre's leading radio DJ's — Andre (Doctor Dre) Brown, a native of Westbury — plied his trade at Adelphi University's WBAU prior to achieving success on WQHT and MTV.
Other famous artists also have roots in Long Island. For example, superstar diva Mariah Carey was born and raised on Long Island and Billy Joel is from Hicksville in Nassau County. Joel's debut solo album, Cold Spring Harbor, was a reference to the Long Island town of the same name. Many compositions by Billy Joel pertain to life on Long Island, particularly his youth. Songs such as "Keepin' the Faith", "Captain Jack", "It's Still Rock n Roll to Me" (where he actually references the "Miracle Mile" located on Northern Boulevard in Manhasset) and most notably "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant", which names local eateries and hangouts. Also, the song "Movin'Out" is a highly identifiable song for Islanders. It's commiseration of the increasing cost for living on Long Island has it's protagaonists working too hard just to "move up", all too familiar to this island's inhabitants. The songs "No Man's Land" and "Downeaster Alexa" lament the increasing development of the island; the latter song specifically referring to the eastern island and its effect on the fishing industry. The pioneering heavy metal / psychedelic rock group Blue Öyster Cult came together around Stony Brook University, releasing hits such as (Don't Fear) The Reaper, Astronomy, and Godzilla. Both of these artists had genre-defining roles in the popular music scene of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Also, New Orleans heavy metal band, Zebra, while not experiencing much success elsewhere, become popular on Long Island during the 1980s.
Modern music in Long Island includes indie music which has rapidly grown in popularity especially in Suffolk County, with the local emo and hardcore punk scene that continues to grow. It has been felt nationally by the moderate success of local bands such as Quinn, Taking Back Sunday, Brand New, Straylight Run, The Movielife, and From Autumn to Ashes selling Gold albums nationwide. Many churches and synagogues, as well as VFW Halls and community centers constantly house underground shows, affording cheap entertainment and an underlying sense of "scene community". Ska and pop punk bands also have an impressive following, with bands like Patent Pending, High School Football Heroes, long-since disbanded Edna's Goldfish, and Arrogant Sons of Bitches topping the list of crowd pleasers. It is a self serving "business", so to speak, and most bands are known on the island spill over into the northeast regions such as New Jersey and Connecticut.
A Long Island-based rock station, WBAB, 102.3 FM, plays classic rock music from the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
Garden City based radio station WLIR at 92.7 FM was nationally known in the 1980s and 90s for playing "new wave" bands from Europe that were at the time unheard of in the U.S. Many of the bands and songs eventually crossed over to more mainstream radio, for example, the groups Frankie Goes to Hollywood and The Pet Shop Boys. Since 2004, the station has operated under a Spanish-language format since being bought-out by Univision. (WLIR has been reborn at 107.1 FM, but its more easterly location in Riverhead means many parts of the New York metro area that used to be able to hear it can now only do so via the Internet)
Long Island is probably, along with New Brunswick, New Jersey, the biggest emo scene in the United States, something that is consistantly hated by almost the entirety of those not participating in it.
Jones Beach is an extremely popular place to view summer concerts, with new as well as classic artists performing there during the summer months at it's outdoor venue.
 Mercator projection of Long Island
Mercator projection of Long Island
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Long Island was shaped by Ice Age glaciers. Early colonial figures include Wyandanch, Smith, Captain Lionel Gardner, and John Underhill. The West of Long Island was settled by the Dutch, and the East settled by Puritans from Massachusetts. Long Island was the scene of several witch hunts, including one involving Lionel Gardner in Easthampton.
During the American Revolutionary War, it was captured by the British early on in the Battle of Long Island, and always had a notable loyalist influence. It was a British stronghold until the end of the war. Close ties with England (since colonization and even after independence) may account for the similarities between English accents and the York Accent">New York Accent, most notably the non-rhotic pronunciation.
Prior to the 20th century, the whole of Long Island remained outside the boundaries of New York City as the counties of Queens, Kings and Suffolk. Long Island itself formerly possessed two incorporated cities; the City of Brooklyn and the City of Long Island (in Queens County, now a neighborhood in the Borough of Queens. The name Long Island City harks back to its former status). Both, along with Kings and Queens counties, were consolidated into "Greater New York" in 1898 (Kings and Queens counties survive as names of court districts). Portions of Queens County which rejected consolidation into New York City formed a separate county thereafter. "Nassau", one of several names by which the island was once known, was revived to represent the newly-established county. The "separation" of Brooklyn and Queens from Long Island in popular usage must have begun around this time, since the Battle of Long Island, the Long Island Rail Road and Long Island City (all nowadays in "The City") all allude to their geographical location on the island.
Long Island was the home of several prominent Roosevelts such as author Robert Roosevelt, and the summer home of his nephew President Theodore Roosevelt, who made his home at Sagamore Hill in Nassau County. Long Island was also the home of the Vanderbilt family.
Immigrants spilling over from New York City have made comfortable lives on Long Island. The immigration waves of Southern and Eastern Europe have been pivotal in creating the diversity on Long Island that most other American regions lack. These immigrations are reflected in the large Italian American and Jewish-American populations.
In 1996, tragedy struck Long Island, as TWA Flight 800 exploded over water off the coast of the small town of East Moriches. 230 people were killed in the disaster. A monument to those lost now stands at Smith Point County Park on Fire Island in Suffolk County.
Long Island was also hit especially hard by the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. Many people who live on Long Island commute to Manhattan for work on a daily basis. Also, many of the firefighters called in to assist in evacuation efforts or quelling the underground fires that occured after the Twin Towers fell were from Long Island.
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