'Brutal, Dangerous' Cold Expected For Weekend Across Long Island

LONG ISLAND, NY — Long Island is bracing for the coldest temperatures it's seen in years this weekend, the National Weather Service said.

According to Dominic Ramunni, meteorologist with the NWS office in Upton: "We're talking about some of the coldest air of the season — some of the coldest air in recent years. It's expected to be dangerously cold."

On Friday, Ramunni said, Long Island will see temperatures with a high of about 30 degrees, or just below.

As a cold front approaches Friday afternoon, light snow could develop late Friday evening and into Saturday morning, he said.

"We're not expecting a blockbuster snowfall," Ramunni said. "But it could freshen up the snowpack with another inch or two of snow."

That snow is expected to taper off Saturday morning. "And then, the cold is really ushered in," Ramunni said. High temperatures for Saturday are expected at around midnight.

On Saturday morning, temperatures will be in the 20s, and then, by late afternoon, plummet into the teens, accompanied by increasing, gusty 40 to 45 mile per hour winds that will bring frigid wind chills, Ramunni said.

The NWS has issued its first ever "Extreme Cold Watch," for the region, Ramunni said, adding that the name was changed in 2023 from a "Wind Chill Warning."

The lowest wind chills are expected Saturday night into Sunday morning, Ramunni said, dropping to an icy minus-15 below 0 degrees, he said.

"It's going to be be brutally cold out there," he said. "It's dangerous cold."

That cold does not "erode" on Sunday, with temperatures topping out in the teens on Sunday and gusty winds making it feel as though it's 0 degrees, he said. Winds on Sunday are expected to be a blustery 30 to 35 miles per hour across Long Island, he said.

By Monday, the temperatures will rise to the mid-20s, but wind chills will make it feel as though it's in the teens; by mid-week, those temperatures will begin to rise above the freezing mark, Ramunni said.

The NWS issued some tips, he said. "Be smart. Dress in layers if you have to be out. And if you don't, don't be, especially in the core of the cold later Saturday and through the day on Sunday. It's going to be bitterly cold. And if you have to spend the day outside, limit your time and cover your fingers, neck, ears — and consume hot foods and warm drinks. Anything you can do, to help stay warm. And of course, bring the pets indoors," he said.