Sunbathers and swimmers keep cool at Long Beach (Joseph Abate)
A heat wave enveloped Long Island the last two days, bringing with it record-breaking temperatures and unbearable conditions that drove thousands to nearby beaches and forced others to find any way to stave off the intense heat, and Friday won’t be much different.
Long Islanders should prepare for another steamy day Friday with temperatures expected to hover around 90 degrees, prompting another air quality alert, which is in effect until 11 p.m.
The heat will continue to blanket the Island, according to forecasters. Combine that with a weather system likely headed this way, there is a strong chance of showers and thunderstorms starting Friday afternoon and lasting through the night.
That combination “will enhance the threat for thunderstorms, especially this afternoon,” said Tim Morrin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Upton, adding that it “looks like some of the storms could approach severe levels.”
“Everybody’s pretty much in the same threat,” he added.
Forecasters said that severe thunderstorms are capable of bringing damaging wind gusts, torrential downpours and flash flooding.
There is a 60 percent chance of precipitation Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
Thursday saw record-breaking temperatures hit the Island. A high of 95 degrees was recorded in Islip, Morrin said, breaking the previous record of 93 in 1988.
“Across the entire region, the metro area, LaGuardia Airport, JFK Airport…they all broke records as well. It was pretty wide-spread heat,” he added.
The Long Island Power Authority has extra crews on hand in case of any serious outages, but so far the utility has only seen scattered outages throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties.
LIPA released a list of tips on its website for customers to conserve energy and try to stay cool.
“When everybody is kind of cranking the AC’s and using power at the same time, that puts a lot of stress on the system,” a LIPA spokesman said.
Some relief is headed its way this weekend with temperatures dropping to the 80s and humidity expected to fall off.
Another Hot Day on Long Island, LIPA Working to Restore Power
