Long Island weather: Sun but threat of thunderstorms

Long Island should be warm and at times sunny this weekend, but the National Weather Service says there also may be rain showers Saturday afternoon and evening and Sunday night along with a high threat of rip currents along the South Shore throughout the weekend.

"There is potential for an isolated strong to severe thunderstorms Sunday afternoon into Sunday evening," the service said Friday afternoon in a regional forecast.

Breaking surf will be 3 to 6 feet on South Shore beaches, but with water temperatures only in the upper 50s to about 60 degrees and no lifeguards on duty yet, it's too early to go for a dip anyway.

The weather service said that after a mostly cloudy Friday night, Long Island on Saturday should have partly sunny skies with a summerlike high temperature near 87 degrees and a southwest wind of around 6 mph. After 2 p.m. and into Saturday night there is a 20% chance of showers and an expected low temperature of 66 degrees.

Sunday should be mostly sunny and even warmer with a high near 91 degrees, but there is a 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11 p.m. Northwest wind gusts Sunday may run as high as 20 mph.

The start of the workweek Monday should be a little cooler — the expected high temperature is 69 degrees — under partly sunny skies. More of the same is in the forecast for Tuesday before the thermometer heads higher again Wednesday when mostly sunny weather should bring a high near 84 degrees, the weather service said.