Long Island weather: ‘Below normal’ temps into next week

Just as Long Islanders are looking for the days to warm up, forecasters say it’s better to adjust expectations to “unseasonably cool.”

“Temperatures the next seven days will be below normal,” said News 12 Long Island meteorologist Rich Hoffman.

Friday through Monday were expected to be several degrees below normal, the National Weather Service said. The normal highs at Long Island MacArthur Airport for those days are 47 to 48 degrees, while 31 to 32 are the normal lows.

But Friday was expected to see highs in the upper 30s, with breezy conditions and mostly sunny to partly sunny skies. Then temperatures will head down to the low 20s by early Saturday morning.

Saturday through Monday bring sunny skies, and are forecast to warm up to the mid- to low 40s and cool down mostly to the mid-20s, the weather service said.

Next week, there’s a slight tilt toward above-normal precipitation for March 20 to 24, as “a storm system is expected to travel across” the northern United States “and intensify in the Eastern U.S.,” according to the Climate Prediction Center.

While it was still too early for any specifics, Hoffman said Thursday morning that forecasters were “tracking a coastal storm” that could have impacts starting next Tuesday — which happens to be the first day of spring.