Long Island forecast: Warm Wednesday means ‘big melt is on’

With warmer than normal temperatures on tap through Friday, “the big melt is on,” said News 12 Long Island meteorologist Rich Hoffman. That, of course, was referring to the quickly disappearing snow that had fallen over the weekend.

With Wednesday’s forecast calling for highs in the upper 40s, the temperature actually hit 51 degrees shortly after 11 a.m. at Long Island MacArthur Airport, said Joe Pollina, weather service meteorologist based in Upton. As of just before 1 p.m., it was 50 degrees at the airport.

The normal high for this time period is 38 degrees, he said.

A warm front drastically changed temperatures over a 24-hour stretch. At about 6 a.m. Tuesday, the service said the temperature at the airport was 8 degrees; at 6 a.m. Wednesday the temperature at the Ronkonkoma airport was 46 degrees.

More precipitation is also in the picture for Wednesday, with rain possibly starting in the early evening, but more likely after about 8 p.m., the weather service said.

Rain is expected to taper off after about 1 a.m. Thursday, though there’s also the possibility for a few showers for the morning commute, Pollina said. About a quarter to a third of an inch of rain is forecast.