Friday brings rain, high-wind watch to LI

Well, at least it isn't snow.

Still, Long Islanders face a cold, rain-soaked, wind-swept Friday -- though the National Weather Service said there's promise of a sunny Saturday.

For now, though, there's a high-wind watch in effect, issued just after 4 a.m. The weather service says "strong, gusty winds" can be expected as the day wears on and, possibly, into Saturday.

Periods of driving rain and sleet will bother Long Islanders throughout the morning, turning into a solid, steady rain in the afternoon.

The Long Island Power Authority is reporting 1,109 customers are without power in Asharoken. It was not immediately clear what caused the outages. The LIPA Storm Center said repairs are pending.

The weather also caused hazardous road conditions Friday morning.

Meanwhile, the temperature hovers in the low-to-mid 30s Friday morning, though the weather service said the high for the day will be in the low 40s. The same is true for Saturday, forecasters said.

Winds now are in the 13-to-16-mph range, but officials said we can expect that to increase to winds in the 20s by evening with gusts as high as 55 mph. Winds in the mid-to-upper-20-mph range are expected to blow through Saturday.