Long Island - City of Australia

Long Island is an island located in southeastern New York, USA, its western shores directly across from Manhattan, from which the island stretches northeast into the Atlantic Ocean. It contains four counties, two of which (Queens and Kings) are boroughs (Queens and Brooklyn) of New York City, and two of which (Nassau and Suffolk) are suburbs of that city. Long Island Sound is the body of water between its northern shore and the state of Connecticut.

The westernmost end of Long Island contains the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn (Kings County) and Queens (Queens County). The central and eastern portions contain the suburban Nassau and Suffolk counties. However, colloquial usage of the term "Long Island" or "the Island" refers only to Nassau and Suffolk counties; the more dense and urban Brooklyn and Queens are not usually referred to as "Long Island", since they are politically part of New York City.

Long Island has a climate similar to other coastal areas of the Northeastern United States; it has warm, humid summers and cold winters. The Atlantic Ocean helps bring afternoon sea breezes that temper the heat in the warmer months and limit the frequency and severity of thunderstorms. Severe thunderstorms are not uncommon, especially when they approach the island from the mainland areas of the Bronx, Westchester County and Connecticut in the northwest. Measurable snow falls every winter and in many winters one or more intense storms (called a Nor'easter) produce blizzard conditions with snowfalls of 1–2 feet (30–60 cm) and near-hurricane force winds.

Long Island temperatures 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: the western part is closer to the mainland, and it is more densely developed, causing the "urban heat island" effect. The eastern part is cooler on most occasions due to moderation of the Atlantic Ocean and the Long Island Sound, and its being less developed. On dry nights with no clouds or wind, the Pine Barrens in eastern Suffolk County can be almost 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) cooler due to radiational cooling.

At the time of European contact, the Lenape people (named the Delaware by Europeans) inhabited the western end of the Island, and spoke the Munsee dialect of the Algonquian language family. Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to record an encounter with these people when he entered what is now New York Bay in 1524. The eastern portion of the island was inhabited by speakers of the Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language group of the same language family, indicative of their ties to the aboriginal peoples inhabiting what is now Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Nassau and Suffolk counties are home to numerous colleges and universities, including:

Branches of the State University of New York
Stony Brook University, including Stony Brook Southampton campus
SUNY College at Old Westbury
Farmingdale State College
Nassau Community College
Suffolk County Community College
United States Merchant Marine Academy
Adelphi University
Briarcliffe College - in Queens at Long Island City
Dowling College
Five Towns College
Hofstra University
Gibbs College, Melville
Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus
Molloy College - in Rockville Centre
New York Institute of Technology
Polytechnic Institute of New York University
Saint John's University
Saint Joseph's College (Suffolk Campus)
Touro Law Center
Watson School of Biological Sciences
Webb Institute