Long Island weather: Dry weekend before wet New Year's Eve

If you plan to trek to Times Square for the New Year’s Eve ball drop, forecasters have good and bad news for you.

First, the good: It’s likely to be 50 degrees at midnight. The bad? Rain, and lots of it.

Long Island is predicted to get an inch to 1 ¼ inch of rainfall between 1 p.m. New Year’s Eve and 7 a.m. New Year’s Day, according to meteorologist Carlie Buccola of the National Weather Service in Upton. The forecast for Manhattan is similar, with slightly more rain possible.

But Tuesday, New Year’s Day, is supposed to bring temperatures in the mid- to upper 50s, which should make any exercise-related resolutions simpler.

“It’ll be an easy way to start if it’s warm out,” Buccola said.

The weekend is expected to be dry and partly to mostly sunny. Saturday’s temperatures will be in the upper 40s, with Sunday “much cooler” at 40 degrees, she said.

"It's a pretty nice day — all you have to do is put a jacket on," News 12 Long Island meteorologist Bruce Avery said of Saturday.

Monday will be in the upper 40s again, with clouds increasing ahead of the rainfall.

The normal high temperature at Islip is 39 degrees, Buccola said, with a low of 24 degrees.

Weather service records show that the warmest Times Square ball drop since 1907 was in 1965 and 1972, when it was 58 degrees in Central Park at midnight.