Long Island breaks records for high temperature on Thursday but weekend brings cooling rain

Long Island broke the record for all-time high temperatures for the day Thursday, as the mercury rose quickly past the old record of 82 set in 1977, according to the National Weather Service.

"We broke it in the last hour," weather service meteorologist David Radell said at about 2 p.m. Thursday. "But there's a sea breeze coming through Long Island keeping things in check."

Nevertheless, in some parts of Long Island, the high ended up being 88 degrees. The weather service put out an air quality alert effective until 11 a.m. Friday, due to elevated ozone levels. The service also warned the dry, warm conditions makes it likely that any brush fire could spread rapidly.

Friday's weather was expected be somewhat cooler — a high in the low 80s — before a cold front Saturday will bring temperatures down to the mid-60s over the weekend and from there highs next week will be in the low 60s and high 50s. Showers and fog will be in the area off and on through Saturday, Sunday night and into Monday, the weather service said, before it turns sunny for most of the rest of the week.

The recent above-average warmth took Long Island from winter cold straight into summer heat this week — with the record-breaking heat Thursday coming just days after temperatures hovered around freezing.

"We're going to see this warm weather for a couple more days, then we're going to head back into more spring-like weather," National Weather Service meteorologist David Stark said Thursday. "A warm streak like this is not dramatically uncommon, though it was a drastic change for sure."

The record on this date for Central Park, where records date to 1869, was 88 degrees — also set in 1977. The high there hit 90 degrees Thursday afternoon, the weather service said.

For the record, the all-time low on this date in Central Park was 22 in 1874. The record low for Islip is 27, set in 1990. The normal high this time of year is 61.

The change is due to a system that rolled into the area this week, taking temperatures from a 29-degree day on April 3 and days where temperatures hovered around freezing on April 9 to 10 to a high of 83 Wednesday. In between, Long Island hit 78 on April 6 — which also was a record high recorded in Islip.

Islip weather records date to 1963.

With Craig Schneider

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”