Long Island weather: Chance of freezing drizzle expected Friday night, making for slippery conditions

An arctic air mass made for a cold day Long Island, and there's a chance some form of frozen precipitation will fall during Friday evening and overnight into Saturday, forecasters said.  

After 7 p.m. Friday, commuters should keep an eye out for "pockets of light snow or drizzle," said National Weather Service James Connelly.

If the evening precipitation falls as a "freezing drizzle" instead of snowy flurries, "a glaze of ice" could top untreated roads and other surfaces, resulting "in hazardous travel conditions quickly," the weather service warned in a special weather statement posted on its website.

But while there is a chance for freezing precipitation lasting most of the night and into Saturday morning, Connelly said the weather service is "expecting little to no accumulation of snow."

Any possible dusting will melt by Saturday morning, Connelly said, as temperatures warm to highs in the low 40s, meaning holiday celebrations like the Port Jefferson Dickens Festival should not be impacted. Saturday and Sunday will see little to no precipitation and windy conditions, so temperatures will feel just under 40 degrees.

The next chance of precipitation will be Sunday night into Monday, with another possible wintry mix.

Frigid temperatures will return starting Monday, with highs just above freezing, and Tuesday, with highs just below freezing.

"With these temperatures, bundle up and stay warm," NWS meteorologist James Tomasini said.

The National Weather Service said the frigid temperatures are a result of the coldest air mass of the season stretching across the Island.

Long Island has not seen lows like Friday's since March 3, when Islip recorded 17 degrees, according to service meteorologist John Murray. The record low for Dec. 5 recorded in Islip is 13 degrees, in 1966, while the average low for Dec. 5 is 32 degrees.

While the official high temperature in Islip for Friday was not yet determined as of around 4 p.m., Connelly with the weather service's Upton office said temperatures did not beat any records.