The Natural Feature That Makes Some Neighborhoods 15 Degrees Cooler Than Others

Some New York City neighborhoods are much cooler than others, and it has nothing to do with air conditioning, a new study found.The Nature Conservancy nonprofit studied every neighborhood across the five boroughs for five years and found that those with limited tree coverage can experience temperatures 10 to 15 degrees higher than those with greater coverage.Trees naturally lower air temperatures, often significantly. In fact, according to Forests News, a single large tree can provide a cooling effect equivalent to 10 room-sized air conditioners operating for 20 hours per day.The New York City neighborhoods with the greatest percentage of tree coverage, not including major parks or nature areas, ranked as follows:Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village, Manhattan (36%)Morningside Heights, Manhattan (36%)Jamaica Estates–Holliswood, Queens (35%)Douglaston–Little Neck, Queens (33%)Upper West Side–Manhattan Valley, Manhattan (32%)Washington Heights North, Manhattan (32%)Clinton Hill, Brooklyn (30%)Fort Greene, Brooklyn (29%)Bedford-Stuyvesant East, Brooklyn (27%)By borough, Staten Island has the most tree coverage at 33%, followed by the Bronx at 27%, Manhattan at 23%, Queens at 20%, and ...