Long Island weather: Coastal storm Thursday evening through Friday

A coastal storm will be hitting Long Island Thursday, sticking around through Friday night and bringing strong winds and rain — but none of the heavy wet snow that could mix in over higher elevations to the west and north, the National Weather Service said.

High winds should be the storm’s main threat, between 35 mph and 50 mph, along with between one and two inches of rain. And there may be isolated moderate flooding for southern and eastern bays of Long Island, forecasters said.

Thursday will start out cloudy and cold, with a high of 44 degrees and gusty winds that make for wind chills of between 25 and 35 degrees. Rain picks up after about 4 pm and overnight, the winds strengthen and it will get milder, close to 50, as the rain arrives. 

The heavy rain and strong winds will continue most of the day Friday, with rain slowing down and winds calming by evening.

Possibly, areas north of the city might get heavy wet snow as the storm ends Friday night. But Long Island will see only rain.

"It mostly a rain even for the entire [region] Friday late morning/early afternoon through about sunset. Some snow may mix with the rain north of the city as the precipitation comes to an end Friday night," the weather service said.

Any “leftover precipitation” should come to a quick stop by Saturday morning, the weather service said. It added: “An extended period of dry weather is likely as high pressure builds in slowly from the southwest this weekend into the first part of next week.”

The weekend is looking to be sunny and cooler.