First major rain in 3 months could put a 'dent' in drought conditions, NWS says

Long Islanders continued to navigate slippery roads Thursday through and past the rush hour with more than half an inch of rain falling in places since midnight and more on its way.

The rain marked the first significant precipitation for the area in three months.

Brian Ciemnecki, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the heaviest showers are moving off Long Island but a chance of rain will continue through Friday night.

"It's not going to make the drought go away, but it's certainly going to help put a dent in the rainfall that we much, really need," Ciemnecki said.

As of 11 a.m., Islip received .85 inches while Farmingdale recorded .77 inches.

Montauk got considerably less, but as the storm system moves east, the East End is expected to catch up with the rest of Long Island, Ciemnecki said.

Police reported no major crashes on Long Island roadways during rush hour and beyond, but authorities reported numerous incidents across the metropolitan area early Thursday that snarled traffic on the Brooklyn-Queens and Long Island expressways. 

The LIRR experienced 15-minute delays on some of its morning Ronkonkoma-to-Grand Central route due to signal problems at Farmingdale and, on its Port Jefferson Branch, similar delays due to equipment issues, the railroad reported.

The three major airports, LaGuardia, JFK and Newark, were operating with 15-minute-or-less arrival and departure delays, according to the FAA's website.

There were no delays reported at Long Island MacArthur Airport, as well.

It will take more than these rains to make up for the region's depleted water supply. New York City's water supply would need about 8 inches of rain to reach normal levels, officials said at a news conference Monday.

Rohit Aggarwala, the commissioner of NYC's Department of Environmental Protection, said Monday the city's vast upstate reservoir system is at 60% of capacity. Normally, those reservoirs are nearly 80% filled at this time of year, Aggarwala said.

The U.S. Drought Monitor, which reports drought conditions across the United States, previously deemed Long Island to be in moderate drought status and western Nassau and New York City to be in severe drought status, conditions that elevate the risk of brush fires.

Only trace amounts of precipitation have been recorded on Long Island since August, according to weather service records for Islip.

There was just 0.24 inches of precipitation recorded in September, compared with a normal average of about 3.6 inches, the weather service said. In October, there was just 0.12 inches of precipitation recorded at Islip, compared with a normal average of 3.97 inches.

Until Thursday, there's been just 0.23 inches recorded. The normal monthly average is 2.06 inches.

With John Valenti