New York City starts Friday with clear skies and temperatures near 70, then is forecast to reach about 81 degrees. Southwest winds will add a breeze, and showers or thunderstorms may develop after 5 p.m. The forecast calls for a mostly sunny afternoon, with temperatures around 80 and winds of 9 to 13 mph.
Storm chances rise Friday evening
A few thunderstorms could bring locally heavy downpours, though some areas may get little or no rain. Showers and storms could continue into Friday night, ending around 2 a.m. Saturday. Skies are expected to turn mostly cloudy overnight, with a low near 63 as winds shift northwest.
Heavy rain can strain parts of the city’s drainage system, but that general risk does not establish what Friday’s storms will do. NYC’s Department of Environmental Protection says about 60% of the city has combined sewers, which carry stormwater and sewage in one pipe. When flows exceed more than twice treatment plants’ design capacity, a mix of stormwater and untreated sewage can discharge into waterways.
DEP also notes that intense rain falling in a short period can overwhelm the sewer system, leading to backups into streets or homes or overflows into waterways. That describes a general system vulnerability; it does not mean Friday’s forecast will cause flooding in a particular neighborhood.
Past floods put Friday’s forecast in perspective
The city has experienced much more consequential rain events. During Hurricane Ida in September 2021, Central Park recorded 3.15 inches of rain in one hour and flooding disrupted transportation, KPBS reported. In a separate storm on September 29, 2023, nearly 8 inches fell at JFK Airport in one day and flooding affected the city, WMUR reported. Those events illustrate the potential consequences of extreme rain, but they were far more severe than the showers described in Friday’s forecast and do not predict its impacts.
Some city projects address stormwater over the longer term. In 2021, DEP announced a $2 million project at Roy Wilkins Park in Jamaica that included a natural drainage system designed to absorb up to 760,834 gallons annually. The department described it as a stormwater-management effort, not protection specific to Friday’s forecast.
Sunny Saturday, then cooler weather
Saturday is forecast to be mostly sunny, with a high near 70 and northeast winds around 8 to 12 mph. Saturday night will be partly cloudy, with a low near 59. Clouds return Sunday, with showers possible after 2 p.m. and a high around 66; scattered showers could linger Sunday night as temperatures settle near 60.
Monday is expected to be mostly sunny with a high near 69. A colder air mass moves in behind another front: Tuesday is forecast to be sunny, with a high around 62 and an overnight low near 47. Temperatures are expected to climb gradually into the upper 60s by Thursday.
Friday afternoon looks warm, but keep rain gear close for the evening and plan for a jacket early next week. Coastal waters east of Fire Island Inlet are also under a Small Craft Advisory from late Friday morning through midnight, with seas building and gusts approaching 25 mph.
