Temps move up this week, but chance of rain remains Thursday to Friday

Warmer temperatures, but also rain clouds, are forecast for Long Island this week, according to the National Weather Service.

High temperatures will rise about 5 degrees from the mid-40s Long Islanders felt on Tuesday to either side of 50 on Wednesday, when it will be mostly cloudy, according to the weather service. Lows will be just below 40.

Then temperatures will soar to either side of 60 on Thursday, when it will be partly sunny, the weather service said.

"It’s forecast to get to the mid-50s out east, lower 60s when you get into western Suffolk and Nassau," weather service meteorologist Bill Goodman told Newsday regarding Thursday's forecast.

The weather service forecast a chance of rain overnight Thursday.

"It’s going to be light rainfall," Goodman said. "It looks like the best chances for rainfall on Long Island is after midnight, maybe into Friday morning."

Temperatures will reach the mid-50s on Friday, when it will be mostly cloudy, but a cold air mass will quell temperatures this weekend, Goodman said. While the sun will shine Saturday and Sunday, high temperatures will stick to the 40s, while evening lows will plummet to the lower 30s and even the 20s.

March 25 marks the day when high temperatures generally pass 50 degrees consistently, according to the weather service’s historical climate data for Islip. But spring is a time of temperature "fluctuations," especially on Long Island due to its proximity to the ocean, Goodman said.

"Anytime the wind is blowing off the ocean, that really limits how warm we can get," the meteorologist added. "To really get a good warm day here we need a west wind that really doesn’t have much influence from the ocean, blowing straight from New Jersey, New York City."