NWS warns of ice on roads Tuesday night, wintry mix later in week

Warmer temperatures are taking over on Long Island this week during the day but there's a catch.

Icy nightime conditions left over from the weekend's nor'easter are still a threat and a wintry mix may be coming Thursday, forecasters said.

For Tuesday night, the National Weather Service put out a warning about the ice, saying: "A light east to northeast flow will continue to bring in a maritime air mass across the east end and along the south shore of Long Island late tonight into Wednesday morning. As a result, patchy black ice may form during this time, especially on roadways closer to the ocean and bays."

Then for Thursday night, the weather service said in an advisory Tuesday night, snow, sleet and freezing rain "will likely spread towards the coast during the morning or afternoon hours Friday. At this point, we are not expecting a significant accumulation of snow and sleet, but dropping temperatures Thursday Night through Friday and an accompanying threat of freezing rain and dangerous travel conditions are a primary concern."

Before that, Wednesday will be mostly cloudy and temperatures continue to be relatively mild. The daytime high should reach the low 40s with calm winds, the National Weather Service said.

Patches of fog may develop before 7 p.m. The nighttime low on Wednesday should fall to about 38 degrees.

On Thursday, however, the chances of rain for the entire tristate area are 50%. And it will be quite warm: a daytime high of 46 is expected, as winds blow in from the southwest.

Thursday night’s chances of rain are 80%, and nighttime thermometers will descend to 40, the weather service said. As much as half an inch of rain may fall.

Friday could be a washout with rain and sleet continuing to pelt the region most of the day, forecasters said, and as another arctic cold front sweeps in, thermometers then will sink to the upper 20s and 30s by the end of the day.

Saturday and Sunday, however, forecasters said, will be sunny, as a cloud-clearing high pressure systems sails in.

But it will be cold.

A daytime high of 29 is predicted for Saturday, followed by a nighttime low of 16.

Sunday will be slightly warmer, with a daytime high of 33, and a nighttime low of 24.

There is just a "slight chance for snow late Sunday into early next week with approach of another low pressure system," the weather service said, cautioning there is "lots of uncertainty and low confidence in [the] forecast at this time frame."

For the moment, it predicts at least partly sunny skies on Monday, with a high of 38.

With Joan Gralla