Sunny, chilly Saturday, a cold week on the way

Long Islanders should brace themselves for overnight temperatures dipping into the 20s Friday night and part of next week, when most of the daytime highs across Nassau and Suffolk will likely be in the high 30s and mid 40s.

The good news?

That's a far sight better than what's in store for a good portion of the country, a winter storm bearing down on the Central Plains and a wintry mix in store from the Texas Panhandle into Kansas and Missouri.

Wind chills in the Central Plains could even be below zero over the next few days, the weather service said.

Though wind chill values could make daytime temperatures in Nassau and Suffolk feel like it's between 25 and 35 degrees on Saturday, when the actual high will be about 42 degrees, expect a great start to Sunday — when a high of 52 degrees is in the forecast. But, don't expect that to last long. The weather service said rain is possible later Sunday, soaring to 90% chance of rain overnight into Monday.

And though Long Islanders are in for a breezy high of 53 degrees Monday, there will soon be a downward slide in the mercury to daytime highs of 38 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday and a high of 45 degrees Thursday, the weather service said. Overnight lows Tuesday into Wednesday and Wednesday into Thursday could be in the mid-to-upper 20s, the weather service said. However, there's no rain forecast any of those days.

There's a small craft advisory in effect from 6 p.m. Friday through to 6 a.m. Saturday for all Long Island waters, including Long Island Sound, all Atlantic Ocean waters and all inlets and bays.