Greater New York finally begins to feel more like spring on Thursday, thanks to warming temperatures and clear skies.
A brisk northwest wind blasted the tri-state area on Wednesday, with gusts generally between 40 and 45 mph across the region. Just before noon, the Islip, N.Y., airport recorded wind gusts at 51 mph, which, while unusually strong, pale in comparison to the hurricane-force winds howling in the Gulf of Fundy, off the coast of Maine. A gust of 101 mph was recorded there around noon on Wednesday as a massive storm moved toward the Canadian Maritimes.
Greater New Yorkers should be thankful that this storm missed the tri-state area, and that the wind will slowly diminish after midnight. An area of high pressure builds in from the west through Thursday, resulting in mostly sunny skies. Temperatures will rebound into the lower and middle 40s, as the northwest wind becomes a light southwest breeze at around 10 mph. While the day’s high temperatures are better suited to spring than those of the first half of the week, they’re still around 10 degrees below normal.
Clouds increase and high pressure moves offshore on Thursday night as a cold front approaches from the west. Rain showers associated with this frontal system arrive in the region around daybreak on Friday and continue through the day. Although the damp weather will last through most of the weekend, above normal temperatures are expected, with highs in the middle to upper 50s. And, a look at the extended forecast shows that temperatures will remain near seasonable levels through next week.
Thursday’s Greater New York forecast roundup:
- WSJ Headquarters in Manhattan:
- Actual High: 45; RealFeel High: 42
- Actual Low: 39; RealFeel Low: 29
- Weather: Mostly sunny and warmer
- Brooklyn: 44/37
- Queens: 44/39
- Bronx: 45/39
- Staten Island: 46/37
- Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: 44/33
- Trenton, N.J.: 46/34
- Islip, Long Island: 41/36
- New Haven, Conn.: 41/35
Rebecca Fowler is a science writer at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.