Now this is just getting irritating.
Long Island is in store for another brutally cold day Thursday with temperatures potentially reaching 20 degrees tops and then sliding into the teens and possibly dipping even lower during the evening hours. Wind chill values will be in the single digits—between 5 and 10 degrees—Thursday night, according to David Stark, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Upton office.
Thursday’s weather may actually be an improvement over the deep freeze that resulted in subzero wind chills Wednesday night.
The National Weather service said the wind chill value for Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma overnight Wednesday was minus 11 degrees below zero—a 19-degree difference from the recorded temperature of 8 degrees.
Temperatures ranged from 5 to 8 degrees overnight Wednesday on Long Island, depending on location.
The mercury was slowly climbing Thursday morning as Long Islanders woke up to a clear azure sky that seemed to be in a mocking mode considering that it would be a great omen for an ideal beach day, if it were only summer. By 10 a.m., the temperature had risen to 13 degrees. It could reach 20 by the afternoon—but that’s as high as it is expected to get.
While Long Island won’t be getting a reprieve from the cold on Thursday, Stark managed to sound optimistic, suggesting that temperatures won’t plummet to subzero levels Thursday evening.
It is “still going to be cold,” the meteorologist said, “but the good news is at least the winds have died down enough.”
Friday’s forecast calls for mostly sunny skies with temperatures approaching a relatively balmy 34 degrees. But the wind chill may make it feel as low as 10 degrees. Snow showers are also in the prediction, mostly before noon, forecasters said.
A low of 14 degrees is predicted for Friday evening, with wind chill values in the single digits.
As for the weekend, forecasters are calling for highs of 24 and 36 degrees on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Winter has clearly arrived.
