A respite from snow - maybe
A car passes through the snow on Jericho Turnpike near Elwood Road Thursday morning. (Jan. 27, 2011) Credit: Arnold Miller
And on Sunday, Mother Nature gave us a rest from the snow.
Sunday's forecast calls for partly to mostly sunny weather, with high temperatures in the mid 30s, according to the National Weather Service.
There's a chance, though, that the snowfall that's made for a record January will resume Monday evening, continuing into Tuesday, the weather service said Saturday.
The service's John Murray and fellow meteorologists said they are also looking at a low-pressure front moving in from the south that could bring more snow.
That front, which is moving easterly from the Gulf of Mexico, is comparable to the track of the storms earlier this winter that brought double-digit snowfalls to the metropolitan area.
The chance of precipitation from Tuesday into Wednesday ranges from 30 percent to 50 percent, the service said.
"Tuesday and Wednesday, right now, everything is pretty chancey," Murray said. "We don't have snow accumulation grids out yet for that far ahead . . . the key point is the track of the storm."
Murray said if the storm comes up the coast and is slightly east of Long Island, that generally means colder air and a greater chance of snow. If it tracks inland and slightly west, it usually means warmer air and more rain.
January's snowfall at Islip reached 34.2 inches, a record for the month. The previous January high recorded by the service was 21.5 inches in 2005. The heaviest January snowfall recorded by Brookhaven National Laboratory meteorologists was 29 inches, also in 2005.
