Three days of wicked weather for Long Island brings snow, then brutal cold

Long Island is getting three days of wicked winter weather, starting with an all-day snowstorm Friday that precedes a weekend with subzero wind chills that make it dangerous to spend much time outdoors, forecasters said.

Up to 3 inches of snow is expected Friday, starting in the early morning and lasting through the evening, the National Weather Service said. But the weather service also said that even “subtle shifts” in the storm's path could affect whether more or less snow will fall and where.

The weather service issued a weather advisory from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday on Long Island. 

The snow will develop southwest to northeast from Friday at 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. The steadiest snow will be from noon to 7 p.m. and will then taper off from west to east Friday evening, a Thursday evening advisory said. The snow will be dry and powder-like, due to the cold, unlike the storm earlier in the week that started as snow as ended as rain or sleet in many places.

The arctic air mass will bring temperatures in the mid-20s on Saturday and in the high 20s and lower 30s on Sunday, according to Rian Murphy at the weather service in Upton.

Subzero wind chills as low as -2 and -3 degrees are possible Saturday and Sunday, the weather service said. Winds of up to 15 mph are expected.

Greta Guarton, executive director of the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless, said their staff are concerned about the unhoused population amid frigid temperatures where people “can literally die and freeze to death outside.”

She said that their street outreach teams will give out hats, gloves, sleeping bags or a tent and try to move the homeless to a warming shelter or an emergency shelter. The SOS street outreach team operates seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The team can be reached at 631-464-4314, extension 170.

Long Island won't reach above-freezing temperatures until Monday, when the high will be 36 degrees, warming to the low 40s on Tuesday before dipping back into the 30s by week's end.

The cold snap and looming snow led Amtrak to cancel over a dozen trains Thursday on the Northeast Corridor — including routes between New York, Boston and Washington, D.C.

In Nassau, warming centers are open at Cantiague Park and the Wantagh administration building from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; 24 hours at Mitchel Field, 1 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. in Uniondale; and from 8 a.m. to midnight at the community room in Town of Oyster Bay Ice Skating Center at Bethpage Community Park.

Anyone in need of shelter from the cold overnight can call the Nassau County Winter Homeless Hotline at 866-WARMBED (927-6233).

With Tiffany Cusaac-Smith and Matthew Chayes