Thunderstorms Predicted Thursday On Long Island? NWS Says Not So Fast

LONG ISLAND, NY — Thursday morning's soggy skies are expected to clear with a welcome break in the heat index slated to come this evening, the National Weather Service said.

Although initial predictions called for rain and a thunderstorm Thursday, with a high of around 83 degrees, Ross Dickman, meteorologist for the National Weather Service Office at Upton told Patch that as of around 9:30 a.m., most of the thunderstorms and showers have now headed offshore.

Rain in Suffolk County and across the Long Island is expected to clear out by about 10:30 a.m., "leaving behind a partly cloudy and humid day."

"We're not calling for thunderstorms for Long Island now," he said.

Thursday morning saw some showers across eastern Suffolk; those showers have cleared up to the west and in New York City, with the forecast for the rest of the day mainly for cloudy skies and a high in the low 80s.

Thursday night, the heat index, which will hover around the mid 80s during the day, is expected to drop after 5 p.m. and become contiguous with temperatures, which will drop to the 70s, Dickman said.

"It's going to feel pretty nice," he said.