Long Island weather: Frigid end to 2017 extends into 2018

Temperatures on Long Island are expected to remain below freezing this week with an arctic air mass settled in, bringing highs on Monday only in the teens with the wind chill as low as minus 10 degrees.

“With wind chills 10 below zero, that’s dangerously cold,” News 12 Long Island meteorologist Pat Cavlin said Sunday night. “You could get frostbite within 30 minutes.”

National Weather Service meteorologist Carlie Buccola said it will be “bitterly cold” for days, courtesy of that arctic air mass.

“Christmas Day was the last time we were above freezing at Islip, and unfortunately it doesn’t look like there’s much end in sight,” Buccola said.

The normal high for Dec. 31 on Long Island is 39 degrees, “so it’s about 20 degrees below average,” she said.

The weather service issued a hazardous weather warning, saying the wind chill into early Monday would fall in the range of -5 to -15 degrees.

“If you’re outdoors and you’re exposed to the cold, that’s what it’ll feel like,” Buccola said.

On New Year’s Day, the afternoon will be sunny with highs in the midteens. Winds will blow from the northwest at 13 to 18 miles per hour.

Monday night will be mostly cloudy, with temperatures falling to 10 degrees and winds from the northwest at 9 to 13 mph.

Midweek will bring even more low temperatures, with a high Tuesday near 21 and a high of 31 forecast for Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday night brings a 40 percent chance of snow after midnight, according to the weather service. Those chances continue into Thursday afternoon and evening.

The weather service said there is a chance of snow — Long Island could get as much as 6 inches — as a low pressure system passes through the area Wednesday into Thursday. However, the strength and track of the system remain uncertain.

“It has the potential to bring snow to the area, but it could also go out to sea, so there are a lot of details to iron out,” Cavlin cautioned.

With Nicole Fuller