After snow amounts to nothing on Long Island, forecast calls for stretch of mostly 40-degree weather

Snow much for that.

The predicted light coating of snow -- what would have been the first of the season -- did not materialize Friday on Long Island, though some overnight spotters noticed a few flakes, according to the National Weather Service.

Snow indeed was sighted in Islip and Centerport, said meteorologist Pat Maloit at the service's Upton office: "Some people saw flakes, but nothing accumulated."

Measurable snow was reported north and west of New York City, but mostly rain fell across Long Island beginning Thursday evening, said John Murray, another meteorologist in the Upton office.

Maloit said water temperatures on the Long Island Sound and off the South Shore remain in the 50s, accounting for rain winning out over snow.

"No matter how the winds blow, it's going to be fighting the cool down," Maloit said.

And even that rain, about a tenth of an inch, dried out in the morning, making Friday mostly dry.

And now comes the cold: A freeze warning is in effect from 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. Saturday for southern Nassau County as temperatures are expected to be in the low 30s, the weather service said.

The warning "means below freezing temperatures are imminent or highly likely," the service said in a statement. "These conditions will kill crops and other sensitive vegetation."

As for the next seven days, the high temperature isn't expected to so much as break the 50-degree mark.

For the most part, day time temperatures are expected to be locked into the 40s, except for Wednesday, when the highs may not even get out of the 30s, Maloit said. That would be about 15 degrees below normal, he said.

The weekend is forecast to be mostly dry, but with increasing clouds.

Saturday will be mostly sunny, but cold, with a high temperature in the lower 40s.

Clouds are expected to increase on Sunday, though temperatures will be milder, in the upper 40s, as the next area of low pressure approaches later in the day.

Late Sunday and into Monday, "we're looking at the next precipitation event," Murray said.

Right now, it looks to be mostly rain, he said, but there could be some snow mixing in.

With Rosemary Olander