Long Island weather forecast: Cold, windy and even colder at end of week

Cold weather Tuesday looks to be a harbinger of bone-chilling temperatures from an arctic air mass expected to arrive on Long Island at the end of the workweek.

Forecasters from the National Weather Service called for temperatures hovering around the freezing mark Monday to fall into the teens overnight, with highs only in the mid 20s on Tuesday — and temperatures falling back into the teens overnight into Wednesday.

Worse, the weather service said Long Islanders can expect strong, gusting winds through Wednesday, with gusts as high as 31 mph.

In fact, small craft advisories were in effect for Long Island Sound until 6 p.m. Tuesday and for the waters off the Island’s South Shore until 1 a.m. Wednesday. The weather service was warning of dangerous Atlantic Ocean seas from Sandy Hook, New Jersey, east to Montauk. A gale warning was in effect for all ocean waters east of Montauk through 9 a.m. Tuesday, the weather service said.

The good news? The weather service said a warmer air mass moving into our area should kick daytime temperatures back into the mid-to-upper 30s, maybe even to the low 40s, Wednesday and Thursday.

But temperatures should again begin falling Friday, when daytime temperatures will hover around the freezing mark — all before a dramatic drop that could push the temperature into the single digits both Friday and Saturday nights, as daytime temperatures Saturday and Sunday hover at about 20 degrees both weekend days.

“It’s going to be unseasonably cold, probably for the next 48 to 60 hours,” weather service meteorologist Jay Engel said Monday, adding: “But this weekend we could see the coldest air so far this season.”

While it’s still too early to say just how cold that could be, Engel said there could be subzero wind chill temperatures.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a Newsday reporter since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press, Society of the Silurians and National Headliner Awards for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing. He is the author of “Swee'pea,” about New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. His debut crime novel, “For Nothing Is Hidden,” rooted in 1950s Long Island, was released in October 2025.