Rain to give way to the deep freeze on LI

Drizzle and mist may linger over Long Island until 1 a.m. Tuesday, but the deep freeze will be moving in, the National Weather Service said.

Unseasonably cold temperatures will dominate the weather for at least the next couple of days, the service said.

Even the daytime highs of around 34 degrees for Tuesday and 32 degrees for Wednesday will be lower than the normal low of 37 degrees for this time of year, said meteorologist Joe Pollina at the service's Upton office.

Tuesday night will be in the upper teens to low 20s, while Wednesday night will be a toasty 10 degrees higher, in the upper 20s to low 30s, he said.

"These are actually lower than what we see in the coldest parts of the year," Pollina said.

Those temps are about 15 degrees lower than normal for this time of year, he said.

The last time parts of Long Island saw highs barely past 30 was in March.

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The wet conditions Monday caused car crashes, plane delays and road closures, authorities said.

Just under 1.5 inches of rain fell in Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip by 4:30 p.m., Pollina said. Rain caused several crashes on parkways but no life-threatening injuries were reported, state police said.

It also delayed arriving planes an average of 2.5 hours Monday evening at Kennedy Airport and a little more than 2 hours at LaGuardia Airport.

Roadways were flooded, and in Nassau, police in the afternoon shut down Merrick Avenue in both directions, from Henry Road to Lee Avenue.

With John Valenti