Long Island weather forecast: Snow showers overnight, cold Friday before next week's warmup

Long Islanders can expect a sunny but frigid and windy Friday after Thursday night's snow showers.

Thursday evening’s snowfall should stop around midnight, according to the National Weather Service.

Flakes have begun to fall across the western half of Long Island and will likely fall in the east, but a half an inch of snow is expected to accumulate “at the most,” said meteorologist Faye Morrone with the weather service’s Upton office.

As of 7 p.m. Thursday, Central Park and LaGuardia Airport both recorded a tenth of an inch, while Kennedy Airport measured a trace amount, according to the meteorologist. It had not yet snowed in Islip.

“I would not call this a snow storm by any stretch of the word,” Morrone said in a telephone interview around 8 p.m. Thursday evening. “We are seeing some light snow and flurries.”

Although temperatures will reach the mid-30s Friday and Saturday, the meteorologist said “wind chill values will remain in the teens or single digits in the morning and topping out in the mid 20s in the afternoon.”

“The wind should subside as we go into the weekend,” Morrone added.

But a warmup begins over the weekend, with high temperatures rising a few degrees to 38 Saturday. Sunday will be mostly sunny with high temperatures reaching the 40s, the weather service predicts. Temperatures will remain in the mid to upper 40s through next Thursday.

No snow is forecast for next week, but Morrone said there is “a low chance” of rain Monday night into Tuesday, and another chance of rain on Thursday.

The National Weather Service said Friday is expected to be sunny with a high temperature of around 36. It will be a breezy day, with steady winds of between 14 to 21 mph and gusts up to 31 mph,

Friday night will be cold with a low around 18 and wind chill values between 10 and 15.