LIRR trains added for Labor Day weekend getaway

It's getaway day.

And some train commuters are getting an early start this Labor Day weekend, catching the Long Island Rail Road has added extra eastbound trains Friday afternoon.

The service out of Penn Station includes three trains each on the Port Jefferson and Babylon branches; one train each on the Far Rockaway and Port Washington branches; and two trains to Jamaica "for Montauk train connections," the LIRR said.

In addition, "the eastbound afternoon train from Ronkonkoma to Yaphank gets extended to Greenport on Friday, as it normally does on Fridays during the summer through Columbus Day weekend," the LIRR said.

And it looks like the weather will cooperate, as the forecast for the long holiday weekend is looking good for those planning to spend time outdoors.

Friday's forecast includes hot, humid weather, with humidity levels expected to be 80 percent or higher, the National Weather Service said.

Expect "a very nice stretch," weather-wise over Labor Day weekend, said Rich Hoffman, News 12 Long Island meteorologist. Look for highs the rest of the weekend in the low 80s, he said.

There's a slight chance of showers after noon on Sunday, with the chance of precipitation 20 percent, according to the National Weather Service.

The more likely chance of rain is late Monday into Tuesday, Hoffman said, tied in to a cold front from the north, as well as possible moisture from Isaac, the hurricane-turned-tropical storm that hit the Gulf Coast.

While people may look back on the summer of 2012 and remember hot days, in fact there have been no 90-degree days at MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma in August, and only two heat waves -- defined as three days in a row of 90-degree weather -- one in June and one in July, Hoffman said.

As for those taking to the roads in the coming days, motorists filling their cars' tanks on Long Island Thursday will find regular gas averaging $4.048 a gallon, the AAA said -- 9.3 cents higher than a year ago.

Experts are predicting still-higher prices this weekend from the effects of Isaac and, especially, from a fire in a major Venezuelan refinery -- both of which are expected to cause supplies of gasoline to tighten.

With Tom Incantalupo