'There's hope': Temperatures next week will bring slight respite from the cold

One day, the sun will burn bright on Long Island again.

People will lie out on towels on sandy beaches, licking ice cream cones and making plans for evening barbecues. They will go to baseball games, and watch the sun set after 9 p.m. They will turn on their air conditioners.

Monday will not be that day. But it will be warmer. Slightly.

Temperatures are expected to rise this week after an arctic air mass led to dangerous conditions over the weekend, forecasters said. By Monday afternoon, the temperature should rise to the low 30s, said Bryan Ramsey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. By Tuesday, it could rise to just above freezing (32 degrees), and to the upper 30s by Wednesday.

"This bitter cold that we're going through should improve," Ramsey said in an interview Sunday. "There's hope. There's hope. Just got to get through the rest of the weekend."

Still, Ramsey noted, the expected temperature is below the average high for this time of year, which is about 40 degrees.

In Farmingdale, the high will be near 37 on Wednesday and 34 on Thursday and Friday, according to the National Weather Service's website.

And while temperatures will rise, it won't necessarily be sunny. There is some expected sunshine for Monday, Ramsey said, but clouds are expected to arrive Monday evening and loom over the region for most of the week.

Those hoping for the snow mounds that have become a fixture on Long Island to melt away should not get their hopes up, Ramsey said, given the low temperatures.

"We're not breaking out of the 30s," he said. "Whatever's on the ground, which is quite a bit, is going to take some time to very slowly go away, so I don't see it leaving anytime soon."

In some parts of Long Island, the weekend brought fresh snowfall: Montauk received 7.3 inches, Sag Harbor got 4.5 inches and North Sea had 4 inches.

Elsewhere, the air temperature proved to be biggest obstacle for Long Islanders. Saturday night’s overnight low of 3 degrees in Islip marked the coldest since Feb. 4, 2003.

"The winds were gusting very strong last night between 35 and 40 miles per hour, so a couple of gusts were closer to 50, which led to a wind chill being around negative 15 to negative 20 across Long Island," Ramsey said.

Nina Gordon, a feline advocate in Great Neck, said the conditions created a "very precarious time" for stray and feral cats.

"The majority of cats on Long Island that are outdoors are cats that were either dumped by people that no longer wanted their cat, or cats that got lost, or kittens that were born outdoors, and they're just not equipped to survive like this," Gordon said. "Most of the cats that live outdoors are being supported by people who provide food and shelter. In weather like this, it's really difficult. ... The people that go out and feed the cats often can't even get there."

Meteorologists urged those venturing outdoors over the weekend to keep as much of their skin covered as possible to avoid frostbite.

Eventually, the extreme cold will give way to sweltering conditions. In a few months, meteorologists might very well be encouraging folks to stay indoors to avoid the extreme heat.

But not anytime soon. Last Monday, Malverne Mel, a groundhog weather forecaster, revealed he had seen his shadow, indicating there would be another six weeks of winter.

"Who knows," Ramsey said. "Maybe there'll be another storm."

By Joshua Needelman

joshua.needelman@newsday.com

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.