Long Island temperatures break records, but cooler weather coming

Parts of Long Island experienced record-breaking temperatures Wednesday afternoon, with the mercury eclipsing highs reached in 2002 and 2024, according to the National Weather Service.

“Islip earlier got up to 81 degrees at noon and that broke the earlier record” of 78 degrees, NWS meteorologist John Murray said just after 3 p.m. Wednesday. Temperatures in Shirley also reached 81 degrees, he said.

Southerly winds coming off the water then cooled the region by a few degrees, Murray said.

And this evening could bring showers, although the chance of rain and even thunderstorms had diminished since Wednesday morning, he said.

The warmer weather began on Tuesday, when highs reached to the upper 70s. But Tuesday’s high of 78 degrees didn’t break the record of 84 degrees at Long Island MacArthur Airport, NWS meteorologist James Tomasini said Wednesday.

The next time Long Island will see temperatures as high as Wednesday's will most likely be in July, when the average reaches the low 80s.

Shorter term, the NWS forecasts that temperatures on Thursday would remain above normal for mid-April, although cooler than earlier in the week, with highs forecast in the mid- and upper-60s in Suffolk County. Temperatures in central Long Island could reach into the mid-70s, Murray said. The region will be “mainly dry,” he said.

Friday's high is expected to reach the low 70s, but be accompanied by a 40% chance of showers before temperatures dip to 50 in the evening.

It will be “remarkably cooler” Saturday and Sunday, Murray said, with temperatures for most of the Island getting up to just the mid- and upper-50s, although some areas could get to the low 60s, Murray said. Lows on Saturday will be in the mid-40s, and then dip into the mid-30s by Sunday night.

Monday will be mostly sunny, but cool with daytime temperatures around 50, before again dropping to the mid-30s with nightfall.