A warm end to the work week

Temperatures will soar into the high 60s throughout Long Island as we close out the end of the work week.

Skies will start off cloudy, but will gradually clear throughout the day. Highs will be in the mid- to upper-60s, well above average for mid-March.

Friday night and Saturday morning will feature partly cloudy skies with a slight chance of light rain, but the rest of the weekend should be dry. Temperatures will come back down to slightly above normal for the weekend, into the upper 40s.

The record high recorded at Republic Airport in East Farmingdale for March 18 is 69 degrees, set back in 1999. Temperatures will approach that out on LI, but I don't think the record will be broken. The record low is 26, set in 2007.

On this Day in Weather History:

1925 - The great "Tri-State Tornado" occurred, the most deadly tornado in U.S. history. The tornado resulted in 695 deaths (including 234 at Murphysboro, Ill., and 148 at West Frankfort, Ill.), and caused $17 million property damage. It cut a swath of destruction 219 miles long and as much as a mile wide from central Missouri to southern Indiana between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. The tornado leveled a school in West Frankfort, Ill., and picked up 16 students, setting them down -- unharmed -- 150 yards away. Seven other tornadoes left another 97 people dead that day.

Geoffrey Bansen is a recent graduate of Stony Brook University, with a degree in Atmospheric Science/Meteorology.