Long Island weekend forecast: Temperatures set to drop, with chance of snow Monday

A chance of light snow is forecast on Monday due to a low pressure system coming from the Plains that's headed east, but the amount of snow depends on how far north the system moves, meteorologists said Friday. 

"We've got a low pressure system that's expected to track pretty much west to east," said Bryan Ramsey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Upton. "It's going to be from our south. It's kind of skirting the area, so we're expecting light snowfall … anywhere from the trace amount to 1 to 2 inches" on Monday. He added that the highest snowfall totals would be in areas farther south, while the lowest totals would affect the North Shore.

Rich Von Ohlen, a Newsday TV meteorologist, said: "This is going to be a small storm … Long Island and the tristate is going to be on the very northern edge of this … If the storm would move a few miles north, we could get up to 3 inches of snow. But if it stays south, we'll probably just have a dusting to maybe an inch" on Monday.

"We'll continue to monitor [the storm's track] over the weekend," Von Ohlen said, noting that if the storm's track shifts, so would the forecast. "In any event," he said, "be ready, perhaps, for a little bit of wintry weather."

And temperatures are forecast to remain cold, the meteorologists said.

Temperature highs on Monday are forecast to be "hovering right around freezing, give or take a degree," then dropping Monday night into the low 20s to middle teens, Ramsey said. Tuesday will be overall sunny, he said, "with highs still right around, or a degree or two below freezing."

Saturday and Sunday are forecast to have dry skies, with highs both days in the mid 30s, said James Tomasini, a weather service meteorologist. Wind chill values will make it feel like the low-to-mid 20s during the day and in the upper teens at night.

With Maureen Mullarkey

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie