Long Island holiday weather forecast: Chilly, but mostly sunny on Thanksgiving
A surfer pulls his board behind his bicycle on the boardwalk at Long Beach on Friday. Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams Jr.
If the forecast holds up, Long Islanders will get to enjoy beautiful, if chilly, fall weather on Thanksgiving Day. But If they have to travel the day before to get to their holiday celebration, it might be a little tough, particularly if they are going to upstate New York.
The National Weather Service is predicting a mostly sunny Thanksgiving Day on Long Island Thursday, with a high temperature near 43 degrees.
But hazardous weather alerts have already been issued for Buffalo, the area east of Lake Ontario and the western Adirondacks of New York for the middle of next week. The weather service warns of rain, high winds and potentially heavy lake-effect snow.
The upstate areas will get a moisture-laden storm system from the southwest that will then clash with a cold front from the west. Rain on Tuesday and Wednesday is expected to turn into snow starting Wednesday night into Thursday.
“Significant lake-effect snow is possible east and northeast of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie mid to late next week, including Thanksgiving,” the weather service office in Buffalo said.
David Stark, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Upton, said Long Island will be spared any harsh wintry weather.
The forecast for the Island does call for a period of potentially heavy rain Tuesday night into Wednesday, mainly before noon, with some gusty winds on the back end. “But we’re not expecting any winter weather,” Stark said. “It’s still too warm for something like that.”
The weather service said for Saturday on Long Island there is a 30% chance of showers before 7 a.m. but then gradual clearing, with the temperature falling to around 50 degrees by 5 p.m. Meanwhile, a north wind will increase to 13 to 18 mph with gusts as high as 28 mph.
Saturday night is expected to be clear, with a low temperature around 34 degrees.
Both Sunday and Monday are expected to be sunny before rain arrives Tuesday night.
Further out, Black Friday shoppers on Long Island will have mostly sunny skies with a high near 45 degrees, according to the weather service.
With Robert Brodsky and TNS
