in Syracuse began to falter in the 1970s, as the industry restructured nationwide. Many small businesses failed during this time, which contributed to the already increasing unemployment rate. Rockwell International moved its factory outside New York state. General Electric moved its television manufacturing operations to Suffolk, Virginia, and later offshore to Asia. The Carrier Corporation moved its headquarters out of Syracuse, relocated its manufacturing operations out of state, and outsourced some of its production to Asian facilities. Although the city population has declined since 1950, the Syracuse metropolitan area population has remained fairly stable, growing by 2.5 percent since 1970. While this growth rate is greater than much of Upstate New York, it is far below the national average during that period. Geography and climate Geography Syracuse is located at (43.046899, −76.144423). It is located about east of Rochester, east of Buffalo, and west of the state capital, Albany. It is also the halfway point between New York City and Toronto, about from each, Toronto to the northwest and NYC to the southeast. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (2.15%) water. The city developed at the northeast corner of the Finger Lakes region. The city has many neighborhoods that were originally independent villages, which joined the city over the years. Although the central part of Syracuse is flat, many of its neighborhoods are on small hills such as University Hill and Tipperary Hill. Land to the north of Syracuse is generally flat, while land to the south is hilly. About 27 percent of Syracuse's land area is covered by 890,000 trees — a higher percentage than in Albany, Rochester or Buffalo. The Labor Day Storm of 1998 was a derecho that destroyed approximately 30,000 trees. The sugar maple accounts for 14.2 percent of Syracuse's trees, followed by the Northern white cedar (9.8 percent) and the European buckthorn (6.8 percent). The most common street tree is the Norway maple (24.3 percent), followed by the honey locust (9.3 percent). The densest tree cover in Syracuse is in the two Valley neighborhoods, where 46.6 percent of the land is covered by trees. The lowest tree cover percentage is found in the densely developed downtown, which has only 4.6 percent trees. Syracuse's main water source is Skaneateles Lake, one of the country's cleanest lakes, located southwest of the city. Water