Editing New London, Connecticut (section)

==Geography==
[[File:New London Map 49%.png|thumb|right|49% of New London's area is water.]]
[[File:Nathan Hale statue in Williams Park, New London Connecticut.jpg|thumb|A statue of [[Nathan Hale]] in Williams Park]]
In terms of land area, New London is one of the smallest cities in Connecticut. Of the whole {{convert|10.76|sqmi|km2}}, nearly half is water; {{convert|5.54|sqmi|km2}} is land.<ref>{{cite web |work=American FactFinder |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTable?_bm=y&-tree_id=4001&-amp;-format=ST-7%7CST-7S&-amp;-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-_caller=geoselect&-context=gct&-amp;-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1_ST7&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1_ST7&-redoLog=true&-amp;-_lang=en%20U.S.%20Census%20Bureau&-_lang=en&-geo_id=05000US09011&-CONTEXT=gct&-format=CO-2&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-amp;-tree_id=4001&-amp;-geo_id=04000US09&-amp;-context=gct&-amp;-CONTEXT=gct |title=New London County, Connecticut – County Subdivision and Place |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=October 28, 2011 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20200216141506/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTable?_bm=y&-tree_id=4001&-amp;-format=ST-7%7CST-7S&-amp;-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-_caller=geoselect&-context=gct&-amp;-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1_ST7&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1_ST7&-redoLog=true&-amp;-_lang=en%20U.S.%20Census%20Bureau&-_lang=en&-geo_id=05000US09011&-CONTEXT=gct&-format=CO-2&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-amp;-tree_id=4001&-amp;-geo_id=04000US09&-amp;-context=gct&-amp;-CONTEXT=gct |archive-date=February 16, 2020 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The town and city of New London are coextensive. Sections of the original [[New England town|town]] were ceded to form newer towns between 1705 and 1801. The [[New England town|towns]] of [[Groton, Connecticut|Groton]], [[Ledyard, Connecticut|Ledyard]], [[Montville, Connecticut|Montville]], and [[Waterford, Connecticut|Waterford]], and portions of [[Salem, Connecticut|Salem]] and [[East Lyme, Connecticut|East Lyme]], now occupy what had earlier been the outlying area of New London.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sots.ct.gov/RegisterManual/SectionVII/townorder.htm |title= Connecticut Towns in the Order of their Establishment|website=www.sots.ct.gov |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080314164126/http://www.sots.ct.gov/RegisterManual/SectionVII/townorder.htm |archive-date=March 14, 2008}}</ref>

New London is bounded on the west and north by the town of Waterford on the east by the [[Thames River, Connecticut|Thames River]] and Groton and on the south by [[Long Island Sound]].

===Principal communities===
*[[Downtown New London]]
*Ocean Beach

Other minor communities and geographic features include Bates Woods Park, Fort Trumbull, Glenwood Park, Green's Harbor Beach, Mitchell's Woods, Pequot Colony, Riverside Park, Old Town Mill.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

===Towns created from New London===
New London originally had a larger land area when it was established. Towns set off since include:
* [[Stonington, Connecticut|Stonington]] in 1649
** This large area ran from the [[Mystic River (Connecticut)|Mystic River]] to the [[Pawcatuck River]], including [[Pawcatuck, Connecticut|Pawcatuck]], Wequetequock, and the easterly half of [[Mystic, Connecticut|Mystic]]. It stretched inland from [[Long Island Sound]] to [[Lantern Hill]].
** [[North Stonington, Connecticut|North Stonington]] was created from the northern half of Stonington in 1807.
* [[Groton, Connecticut|Groton]] in 1705
** [[Ledyard, Connecticut|Ledyard]] (originally North Groton) created from a part of Groton in 1836.
* [[Montville, Connecticut|Montville]] in 1786.
** [[Salem, Connecticut|Salem]] created from parts of Montville, Colchester, and Lyme in 1819
* [[Waterford, Connecticut|Waterford]] in 1801.
** [[East Lyme, Connecticut|East Lyme]] created from parts of Waterford and Lyme in 1839.
* [[Fishers Island]] officially left Connecticut and became part of New York in 1879.

===Climate===

Using the [[Köppen climate classification]] New London has a warm temperate climate. This zone is defined as having a monthly mean temperature above 26.4&nbsp;°F (−3 C) but below 64.4&nbsp;°F (18 C) in the coldest month.

The city experiences long, hot and humid summers, and cool to cold winters with snowfall on occasion. The city averages 2,300 hours of sunshine annually (higher than the USA average). New London lies in the broad transition zone between continental climates to the north in New England and southern Canada, and the humid subtropical climates to the south along the lower East Coast.

From May to late September, the southerly flow from the [[Bermuda High]] creates hot and humid tropical weather conditions. Daytime heating produces occasional thunderstorms with heavy but brief downpours. Daytime highs in summer are normally near 80&nbsp;°F, with occasional heat waves bringing high temperatures into the 90's °F. Spring and Fall are mild in New London, with daytime highs in the 55° to 70&nbsp;°F range and lows in the 40° to 50&nbsp;°F range. The seaside location of the city creates a long growing season compared to areas inland. The first frost in the New London area is normally not until late October or early November, almost three weeks later than parts of northern Connecticut.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} Winters are cool with a mix of rainfall and snowfall, or mixed precipitation. New London normally sees fewer than 25 days annually with snow cover. In mid-winter, there can be large differences in low temperatures between areas along the coastline and areas well inland, sometimes as much as 15&nbsp;°F.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Tropical cyclones (hurricanes/tropical storms) have struck Connecticut and the New London metropolitan area, although infrequently. Hurricane landfalls have occurred along the Connecticut coast in 1903, 1938, 1944, 1954 ([[Hurricane Carol|Carol]]), 1960 ([[Hurricane Donna|Donna]]), 1985 ([[Hurricane Gloria|Gloria]]). [[Hurricane Irene|Tropical Storm Irene]] (2011) also caused moderate damage along the Connecticut coast, as did [[Hurricane Sandy]] (which made landfall in New Jersey) in 2012.

[[File:M-grandiflora bank-st montauk-ave new-london-CT 11282020.jpg|thumb|Mature Magnolia grandiflora on the north side of Bank Street (intersection with Montauk Avenue) in New London, Connecticut.]]

The Connecticut shoreline (including New London) lies within the broad transition zone where so-called "subtropical indicator" plants and other broadleaf evergreens can successfully be cultivated. New London averages about 90 days annually with freeze, about the same as Baltimore, Maryland{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}. As such, many varieties of [[Magnolia grandiflora|Southern Magnolia]], [[Rhapidophyllum hystrix|Needle Palms]], [[Loblolly Pine|Loblolly]] and [[Longleaf Pines]], [[Lagerstroemia indica|Crape Myrtles]], [[Aucuba japonica]], [[Camellia]], [[Yucca gloriosa|trunking Yucca]], [[Musa basjoo|hardy bananas]], [[Araucaria araucana|Monkey Puzzle]], copious types of evergreen [[Holly|Hollies]], many East Asian (non-holly) [[broadleaf evergreen]] trees and shrubs, and certain varieties of [[Ficus carica|figs]] may be grown in private and public gardens. The growing season is quite long in New London. Like much of coastal Connecticut and Long Island, NY, it averages close to 200 frost free days. The new 2023 USDA Garden Zone Map has New London in zone 7a. New London falls into the same garden zone as locations like [[Trenton, New Jersey]], [[Wilmington, Delaware]], or [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]]. By the mid-to-late 21st century, the area is expected to fall within USDA zone 8 according to some models.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://e360.yale.edu/features/redrawing-the-map-how-the-worlds-climate-zones-are-shifting |title=Redrawing the Map: How the World's Climate Zones Are Shifting}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301360248 |doi=10.1088/1748-9326/11/3/034001 |title=Projected changes in cold hardiness zones and suitable overwinter ranges of perennial crops over the United States |year=2016 |last1=Parker |first1=Lauren E. |last2=Abatzoglou |first2=John T. |journal=Environmental Research Letters |volume=11 |issue=3 |page=034001 |s2cid=51886166 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1088/1748-9326/11/3/034001|title = Projected changes in cold hardiness zones and suitable overwinter ranges of perennial crops over the United States|year = 2016|last1 = Parker|first1 = Lauren E.|last2 = Abatzoglou|first2 = John T.|journal = Environmental Research Letters|volume = 11|issue = 3|page = 034001|doi-access = free}}</ref>

{{Weather box New London}}
{{clear|left}}
{{US Census population
|1800= 5150
|1810= 3238
|1820= 3330
|1830= 4335
|1840= 5519
|1850= 8991
|1860= 10115
|1870= 9576
|1880= 10537
|1890= 13757
|1900= 17548
|1910= 19659
|1920= 25688
|1930= 29640
|1940= 30456
|1950= 30551
|1960= 34182
|1970= 31630
|1980= 28842
|1990= 28540
|2000= 25671
|2010= 27620
|2020= 27367
|align-fn=center
|footnote=[https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html U.S. Decennial Census]
}}