Long Island forecast: After another high-temperature record, cooldown coming

After a second straight day of record-high temperatures and air quality alerts on Long Island, Saturday looks to be more typical for this time of year: much cooler with a chance of rain.

Temperatures that hovered well into the 80s on Thursday and Friday were to dive into the low 50s overnight, according to the National Weather Service.

There could be patchy fog Saturday morning, and showers and thunderstorms later, with the day's high to reach only 61 at Long Island MacArthur Airport.

“After two record-breaking days in a row, temperatures will start to trend down now,” said James Tomasini, a meteorologist at the weather service.

Rainfall amounts were forecast to be less than a tenth of an inch Saturday, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms, which could hit after 2 p.m.

The forecast is a far cry from Friday afternoon at the airport: The high reached 84 degrees, smashing a record of 73 degrees set for the day in 1977, the National Weather Service said.

The record for the day already had been eclipsed by 11 a.m. Friday — the temperature was 80 at that time, said Patrick O'Hara, a weather service meteorologist.

Long Island also set records Thursday as the mercury rose into the high 80s.

There were air-quality alerts for both days due to elevated ozone levels. Friday's alert was in effect from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The region shared the summerlike heat with many of its neighbors, more than two months before summer's official start, as a high-pressure system in the upper atmosphere acted like a dome, trapping warmth at the surface.

Numerous potential record highs were possible from the lower Great Lakes through the Mid-Atlantic and Southern New England, the weather service’s Weather Prediction Center said Friday.

But the high was to give way to a low-pressure system heading north from the Gulf of Mexico, the weather service said.

On Long Island, Sunday is predicted to look at lot like Saturday, with a 30% chance of showers, mainly before 8 a.m., and with a high near 61.

Monday’s odds of rain were at about 60%. After that, mostly sunny skies are predicted through Thursday, with temperatures ranging from the low 50s to the 60s during the day and the 40s at night.

With Joan Gralla and Tiffany Cusaac-Smith