Long Island weather: Heavy rain in the forecast; clearing by Halloween

A coastal system bearing down on Long Island late Wednesday will bring a bit of fitting weather this Halloween eve — dark clouds, periods of heavy rain, rumbling skies and gusty winds through late Thursday.

Have no fear oh hearty and candy-hungry trick or treaters. The frightening weather is forecast to be far from Long Island by the time the costumes come out Friday. The time-honored tradition of free candy for kids and parents scared by potential dental bills to come will go off amid temperatures in the mid 50s with partly cloudy skies.

By the time the sun sets Friday evening, the temperature will have dropped into the high 40s with dry conditions but occasional gusts of up to 40 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Before that, Long Island will have to contend with showers and thunderstorms set to begin Wednesday evening that could bring moderate to heavy rainfall totaling 1 to 2 inches, the weather service said. Rainfall amounts could reach about a half-inch an hour Thursday afternoon.

"It's mostly during the day on Thursday," meteorologist Jay Engle with the weather service's Upton office, said of the rain, which he added "will taper off by late evening or by midnight ... There will be some rain, especially further east, Thursday evening."

Stormy weather in the forecast led to several schedule changes Wednesday across the Long Island high school sports playoff landscape. The Nassau Class B championships in both boys and girls soccer, as well as two Nassau field hockey semifinals and two Suffolk field hockey semifinals, all scheduled for Thursday, have been postponed to Friday afternoon.

The girls tennis small schools Long Island championship match was moved to 2 p.m. on Friday. The girls tennis large schools Long Island championship match, originally scheduled for Friday, will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Four Suffolk soccer semifinals — two boys, two girls — have had their start times moved up to 2 p.m. on Thursday. There are six Suffolk football games and two Nassau football games set for Thursday evening that, as of late Wednesday, were still set to be played as scheduled. Section XI executive director Tom Combs said the Suffolk football games will remain unaffected as long as lightning isn’t a factor.

"I spoke with all the athletic directors and asked if they wanted to move those football games to an earlier time tomorrow, because the weather is not supposed to be bad out here until later in the afternoon," Combs said. "They said they wanted to play the games as scheduled. These games are very important to us because it is the last week of the season and they affect our power rankings, so we have to get those games in."

Coastal flooding of 1 to 2 feet above ground could inundate vulnerable coastal areas along the South Shore, according to the weather service. The agency has issued a coastal flood advisory for southern Nassau from 1 to 6 p.m. Thursday, and another for southwestern Suffolk from 2 to 9 p.m.

Fallen leaves could clog storm drains and exacerbate urban flooding, the weather service added. 

"As this storm makes its way to New York tonight, I urge everyone to prepare for the forecasted high-speed wind gusts, heavy rainfall, flooding and possible power outages," Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Wednesday. "New Yorkers should text 333111 to check your local forecast, and stay vigilant as the storm passes."

The dry out forecast for Friday will lead into a Saturday with mostly sunny skies, a high of 58 degrees and more of the same seasonal weather by the time the New York City Marathon begins Sunday morning.

Monday and Tuesday, Election Day, are forecast to be mostly sunny with highs near 60 and overnight lows in the low-to-mid 40s.

Newsday's Maureen Mullarkey and Matt Lindsay contributed to this story.