Rain forecast for Thanksgiving, but Macy's parade goes on
The Simons family, of Westbury, braved the rain and mud to hold their annual Thanksgiving Day football game at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow. Credit: Linda Rosier
The skies ignored the pleas of "Don’t rain on my parade."
It was a wet kickoff to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan, and a wet holiday was forecast for Long Island.
Sustained winds of 10 to 17 mph were expected Thursday, with gusts up to 25 mph on Long Island and 20 mph in Manhattan.
But "they can still do the balloons," said National Weather Service meteorologist Jay Engle.
City regulations prohibit any "giant character balloon" flying with sustained winds of 23 mph and gusts exceeding 34 mph, a Macy's spokesperson said by email early Thursday.
The Long Island Rail Road added nine extra trains returning to Long Island from Manhattan — four to Babylon, three to Ronkonkoma, one to Farmingdale and one to Huntington — leaving Grand Central or Penn Station between 11:20 a.m. and 12:51 p.m., to handle extra demand from parade-goers. Six extra westbound trains ran in the morning.
Otherwise, the LIRR will be on a weekend schedule. Go to the MTA website for more information and timetables, and for information on delays. There were no major delays late Thursday morning, the website showed.
Thursday's rain, which will be steady or moderate, will move out between 2 and 4 p.m., Engle said. Highs will be in the low 50s. Expect about three-quarters of an inch of rain.
Thursday night will be breezy and colder, with lows in the mid-30s.
It will be dry Friday, "with lots of sunshine but clouds late in the day," Engle said. Temperatures will be cooler, with highs in the mid- and upper 40s. Temperatures will dip to the upper 20s to lower 30s. With winds of 10 miles per hour and gusts up to 20 miles per hour, it will feel like the low to mid-20s, Engle said.
Saturday and Sunday will be dry but chilly, with highs Saturday in the low to mid-40s and highs Sunday around 40. On Monday, highs will be in the low 40s.
David Olson covers health care. He has worked at Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.
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