Sunny start to week, but chance of showers returns

The sun from Sunday will carry into Monday, setting up for a very nice spring day early on. Unfortunately, clouds will increase from the west during the afternoon with a threat of showers for later Monday night.

High temperatures will be mild, in the upper-50s to low-60s in most spots. It will be not as be breezy as Sunday, with light winds from the west at 10 to 15 mph. This will make it feel warmer than Sunday.

Most showers will stay to the north on Monday night, and Long Island will not see any precipitation again until Tuesday in advance of a warm front, with more showers to follow with a cold front later Wednesday.

Record highs and lows for April 18:

* 86 (2002), 35 (2003) at Kennedy
* 89 (2002), 33 (1990) at MacArthur
* 87 (2002), 33 (2003) at Republic
* 87 (2002), 30 (2009) at Gabreski

Source: National Weather Service

As seen by the records from the past few days, Long Island entered a mid-April heat wave in 2002 during these past few days.

This Day in Weather History:

1906 - A severe earthquake shook San Francisco, and unusual easterly winds spread fires, destroying the city.

Source: The daily weather facts are compiled by Hugh Crowther of the Aviation Weather Center. Crowther is a weather historian and has collected and organized weather facts for every day of the year.

FUN FACT: Lightning is produced in thunderstorms when liquid and ice particles above the freezing level collide, and build up large electrical fields in the clouds. Once these electric fields become large enough, a giant "spark" occurs between them (or between them and the ground) like static electricity, reducing the charge separation. The lightning spark can occur between clouds, between the cloud and air, or between the cloud and ground.

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