Weather forecast: Sunny, gusty, chance of afternoon showers

High winds and low humidity Saturday created an "elevated fire risk" throughout Long Island, according to the National Weather Service.

The temperature Saturday  rose to 46 degrees just before noon in Islip, but weather service meteorologist Bryan Ramsey said earlier Saturday morning that dry and windy weather would create the increased fire risk.

"The main reason for the risk is just because we have some pretty strong winds coming in from the northwest, gusting up to 35 miles per hour. Whenever you tie that in with low humidity it can lead to an elevated risk for fire spread," he said.

"We’ll have a minimum humidity around 30% … So, we urge people to use extreme caution with potential ignition sources," he said.

The temperature Saturday night will drop below freezing, with a low temperature in the mid to upper 20s, the weather service said.

Sunday will be mostly sunny, but there is a 20% chance of showers between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., according to the weather service. The high temperature should be about 49 degrees. A southwest wind of 8 to 16 mph with gusts up to 29 mph is expected.

Sunday night the low temperature should be about 36 degrees.

It is expected to get warmer for the new workweek, with high temperatures in the low to mid 50s and sunshine throughout the week.

"High-pressure settles in all of next week, which will bring temperatures back into the 50s, with partly cloudy to sunny skies throughout next week and staying dry," Ramsey said.

By Sam Kmack

sam.kmack@newsday.com

Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.