Long Island weather: Coastal storm Saturday could bring 45 mph gusts

A powerful coastal storm Saturday could bring 45 mph wind gusts, heavy rain and even a little wet snow, the National Weather Service’s Islip office said.

Light rain began Friday afternoon amid temperatures in the mid-40s.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Bill Goodman said Friday that the rain will continue overnight into Saturday with the north and south forks getting up to 2 inches of rain.

Strong northerly winds will push water along the entire North Shore, the bay side of Jones Beach and Fire Island, creating minor flooding and beach erosion.

"It will be raining through much of the day Saturday and it probably won’t be until nighttime before we taper off," Goodman said. "Most of Saturday night will be dry."

He said the winds will pick up throughout the day Saturday, but it won’t quite be a nor’easter.

"More of a 'norther' than a 'nor’easter' with the winds late tonight and tomorrow morning they might be coming from the northeast for a brief time Saturday morning, but the strongest winds will be more as we get into the afternoon and evening and those winds will be out of the north and northwest as the storm passes by our south and east," Goodman said. "It’s going to be a rainy norther."

Goodman said when winds are blowing from the northeast with gale force winds, that is typically what is called a nor’easter.

"We don’t get gale force winds with this one until Saturday afternoon and evening," Goodman said.

News 12 Long Island meteorologist Samantha Augeri said Friday night the storm Saturday will be notable in the morning with heavy rain in a very short period of time. She said it looks like the strongest winds will be on the North Shore and East End as the storm pulls away. Low-lying coastal areas should also be on the lookout for some flooding.

"It's going to be a big deal in the morning," she said. "It's going to pick up speed and be a quick hitting potent storm, heavy rain, gusty wind."

She said she's calling it a nor'easter.

"We've been calling it a nor'easter, which is basically a strong coastal storm with strong northeast winds, and since we'll have strong northeasterly winds for the onset, we're just calling it a nor'easter," Augeri said.

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran issued a statement advising residents to secure all outdoor objects and avoid travel during the storm.

The high temperature for Saturday will be 45 or 46 with evening temperatures dipping into the 30s with strong winds from the north bringing in colder air, Goodman said.

The second half of the weekend will be better, but cold.

Goodman said the normal high this time of year in Islip is 47, but he doesn’t expect temperatures to reach those numbers until Thursday.

Sunday begins with temperatures around or just below freezing, warming to the lower 40s. Saturday’s storm began Friday, the result of a cold front mixing with a trough, an elongated area of low pressure, and another system over the Great Lakes, the forecasters said.