Long Island weather: Freeze warning for southeast Suffolk Wednesday into Thursday

The National Weather Service has issued a freeze warning for southeast Suffolk County for Wednesday overnight into Thursday, saying the temperatures could drop as low as 32 degrees.

"Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. To prevent freezing and possible bursting of outdoor water pipes they should be wrapped, drained, or allowed to drip slowly," the weather service said in a Tuesday afternoon warning.

"Those that have in-ground sprinkler systems should drain them and cover above- ground pipes to protect them from freezing," the statement said.

Highs Wednesday will reach about 50 degrees in most parts of Long Island.

Any frost is expected to start forming after 2 a.m. Thursday.

Thursday, temperatures rise rapidly in the afternoon to the 50s, then drop to about 38 degrees at night, forecasters said.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and through the early part of next week, conditions should be partly to mostly sunny with highs in the low 50s and lows in the low 40s, the forecast said.

Meanwhile, Wanda has become a tropical storm and was expected to move northeast up the Atlantic through Wednesday before weakening.

The storm, which had sustained winds of 50 mph Tuesday, was the 21st of the hurricane season and it exhausted the list of names used to identify storms during the Atlantic hurricane season. The system is not expected to pose any danger to land but could make for difficult marine conditions, forecasters said.