Long Island will be in a deep freeze through Friday, with improvements beginning over the weekend.
But first, the chance for snowflakes to fly this afternoon…
It is breezy cold today, but you ain’t seen nothing yet! Afternoon temperatures are around 30° today – chop that in half for tomorrow’s highs. Plus gustier winds will blow. An arctic front pushing through later this afternoon will usher in an air mass frigid to what we had last week on MLK today. This one could be arguably even a little worse than that.
EASTERN SATELLITE
You can actually make out the arctic front just to the west on the satellite picture above. We currently have plenty of sunshine but clouds will begin to increase around 3pm and we could see some brief periods of heavy snows along that front. This is called a snow squall.
It is very similar to passing showers over the summer. It will only last for 15-30 minutes, but can still cause problems. Roads could quickly become slippery, winds will turn gusty (40-50 mph!) and visibility will be limited. Think of it almost like a micro-blizzard. Use caution out on the roads between 3 and 6 pm (west to east).
*WIND ADVISORY FOR NASSAU & SUFFOLK UNTIL 7PM THIS EVENING*
40-50 MPH GUSTS POSSIBLE
*WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR NASSAU & SUFFOLK FROM MIDNIGHT UNTIL 10AM THURSDAY*
WIND CHILLS OF -10° to -15° LIKELY
Skies will clear and the arctic blast will set in. Lows by tomorrow morning will reach the single digits.
Islip has an outside chance to see a record. The forecast low is 5° by late tonight, with the current record being 2° from 1965. But when you take the wind into account, the apparent temperatures will be 10 to 15 BELOW zero. Yikes. Tomorrow morning will be brutal, and it won’t get much better during the day.
There is a better likelihood that several records across the area will fall tomorrow for the lowest daytime high temperature for the date:
Islip – Forecast 16°, Current Record is 23° in 1977
JFK – Forecast 17°, Current Record is 23° in 1977
LaGuardia – Forecast 17°, Current Record is 21° in 1948
NYC – Forecast 16°, Current Record is 16° in 1935
After another painfully cold night, things slowly start to improve Friday. There will be less wind and highs will return to the 20s. It’s not much but we’ll take it. Skies will also feature more sun than clouds in the upcoming stretch. Saturday will see the mercury get back to freezing, and then Super Bowl Sunday we are all the way back into the 40s. As for Monday and Tuesday? 50s! Break out the shorts! What a winter….
The next shot of any wet weather will be Monday night into Tuesday as the next front passes through. –Geoff
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