Long Island forecast: More high winds and chance of snow squalls

Winds of up to 50 mph will hit Long Island on Saturday into the evening with a possible chance of snow squalls, according to the National Weather Service.

Snow squalls could arrive between noon and 5 p.m. on Saturday, the weather service said, while a wind advisory will be in place from 1 p.m. until 11 p.m. Wind gusts could reach up to 50 mph.

Temperatures are expected to reach a high of 41 degrees Saturday, a rise from a low of 22 on Friday night, the weather service said.

High winds buffeted Long Island early Friday morning, with speeds of 68 mph in Orient and 53 mph in Merrick recorded by the National Weather Service.

As of 5:56 p.m. Friday, PSEG Long Island's website showed 104 outages affecting 409 customers, down from 4,918 customers around 11 a.m. A map on the utility's website showed the outages were scattered across Long Island, with concentrations around Farmingdale and on the North Shore between Huntington and Stony Brook.

Suffolk County police had reported Friday about a dozen or so downed trees, as well as reports of downed power lines, poles and traffic signals.

Police said the winds brought down multiple utility poles in Middle Island, blocking Longwood Road from Smith Road to Wading River Hollow Road, including in front of Longwood High School.

There also were reports of downed trees blocking:

• Three lanes of traffic at the intersection of County Road 83 and Hawkins Path in Coram
• North Country Road, just east of Ronkonkoma Drive, in Sound Beach
• Eatons Neck Road between Lighthouse Road and Locust Lane in Asharoken
• Weinmann Boulevard in Melville between Chateau Drive and Raintree Road
• Browns Road in Nesconset between Winner Circle and Nesconset Highway
• August Road and Chuck Boulevard in North Babylon
• Victory Avenue and Gerard Road in Yaphank
• Whiskey Road and Randall Road in Ridge

Additionally, police said, a transformer fire knocked out power on Mill Road in Manorville. A tree and wires were down, with power out in the area and Smithtown Avenue closed from Lakeland Avenue to Nestle Court in Bohemia. Also, a traffic light fell on a vehicle on Route 25A in Mount Sinai, while trees and tree branches reportedly fell on vehicles in Coram and Farmingville.

A large, fallen branch blocked Lawrence Hill Road in Cold Spring Harbor between Seaward Court and the Nassau-Suffolk Greenbelt Trail, police said.

There was also a transformer fire on Willets Avenue in Sayville, and the wind snapped off a railroad crossing gate on Straight Path in Wyandanch between Long Island Avenue and Merritt Avenue, police said. Trees and wires were also down in St. James and Dix Hills, where a brush fire was sparked, and low-hanging wires were blocking Jefferson Street and Van Buren Street in Centerport, police said.

Two traffic lights — one at Fifth Avenue and Pine Aire Drive in Brentwood, another at County Road 83 and Middle Country Road in Coram — were not functioning properly, according to police.

Police said wires were down on a vehicle, with a tree down on wires, on Crooked Hill Road between Manhattan Place and Park Avenue in Huntington Station, while a traffic light was "about to fall" on Nesconset Highway at Southern Boulevard in Nesconset.

Sparking wires were reported on Sylvan Road, west of Deer Park Avenue, in North Babylon, as well as at Archer Avenue and 31st Street in Copiague, Woodland Avenue near Connetquot Avenue in Central Islip and Crooked Hill Road between St. Andrews Place and Leahy Avenue in Brentwood. There also were low-hanging wires on Fort Hill Road near Bialla Place in Huntington and wires down at East Main Street and Bonnie Gate in Kings Park.

Riverhead Town Police said storm-related debris blocked Remsen Road at North Wading River Road, and Pennys Road and also was impacting Pier Avenue north of Smugglers Path.

The Long Island Rail Road was reporting scattered delays on the Port Jefferson branch.

PSEG Long Island, which just this month completed the long-awaited rollout of a new higher-level storm outage computer system, said Thursday it was prepared, with Michael Sullivan, the company vice president of transmission and distribution, issuing a statement that read: "PSEG Long Island is ready for the impending heavy rain, gusty winds and possible thunderstorms expected tonight and into tomorrow morning. As we watch the forecast, we have performed system and logistic checks, and have additional personnel ready to respond safely and as quickly as possible."

With John Asbury

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com,

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”