Weather service: Spring 2012 warmest ever on LI

This spring on Long Island has been the warmest on record, the National Weather Service said Sunday.

The average temperature throughout March, April and May was 54.1 degrees, compared with a typical average of 49 degrees, said David Stark, a meteorologist with the service's Upton office.

The readings were taken at Long Island MacArthur Airport, a weather station that began keeping records in 1986, Stark said Sunday.

"The big disclaimer is these [temperatures] are going back just to the mid-1980s," he said, adding that the next warmest spring in the Ronkonkoma airport's records was 2010, when the average was 53.6 degrees.

A warmer winter, with little snow, contributed to the mild spring, and March helped to skew the spring records as the warmest of the three months, Stark said. The average temperature this past March was about 8 degrees higher than normal, he said."The weather pattern helped to set us up for these warmer temperatures," he said."In March, we had several days in the 60s and 70s and warm nights, too. It was a dry month -- we didn't have much rainfall -- which helped to increase temperatures somewhat."

But Stark said the warm spring isn’t necessary indicative of a hot summer to come.

“Through Friday, the temperatures for that particular location [MacArthur Airport] are going to be in the low- to mid-70s, which is pretty much normal or a few degrees below,” he said. “That may help to keep the departure [difference] closer to normal.”

The spring was also the warmest on record for New York State and the country.

The state has been 6.1 degrees above normal, and the country 5 degrees above normal, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Summer begins June 20.