We're preparing for another weekend impacted by rain. If you feel like it's been happening a lot, the numbers are here to back you up. We took a count of how many times Islip and Central Park have reported wet weather on the weekend. We found that most of the weekends this year were wet and the biggest weather events of 2026 have also fallen on the weekend.

So far in 2026, Islip has had just eight completely dry weekends out of 40, while Central Park has recorded nine. That means at least one day of precipitation has affected 32 weekends in Islip and 31 in Central Park, based on our tally. For our count, if rain, snow or another form of precipitation showed up on either Saturday or Sunday, that weekend did not qualify as completely dry. The limitation of this method is that some of these weekends only saw a trace of rain and were not washouts.

For Long Islanders, the recent stretch has been particularly frustrating. Islip's last completely dry weekend was August 8-9. That is more than 2 months ago. Central Park's last was September 5-6, which still means we have not had a dry weekend in the city yet this autumn.

September brought a powerful nor’easter that delivered prolonged strong winds, coastal flooding and substantial rainfall across the region. Islip recorded a daily rainfall record of 1.92 inches on Sunday, September 27, and set a record for its wettest September on record, with 8.76 inches for the month.

The nor’easter brought flooding concerns, damaging winds and power outages across parts of the region, disrupting outdoor plans.

January's major snowstorm brought heavy snow to the region on Sunday, January 25. Central Park measured 11.4 inches, while Islip Airport reported 13 inches of snow and sleet by the following morning. The storm set daily snowfall records at both locations.

February's blizzard delivered another major blow on Sunday, February 22, into Monday, February 23. Central Park recorded 19.7 inches of snow, while Islip Airport measured 29.1 inches. It was the biggest snowstorm total on record for Islip. The record goes back to 1963.

Severe thunderstorms on July 4 brought another round of disruptive weather. A line of storms moved across Long Island during the evening, producing damaging winds, downed trees and power lines. The storms were strong enough to trigger an EAS alert on phones during peak fireworks time warning people to seek shelter immediately. A trained spotter reported an 87 mph gust in Baiting Hollow, while numerous communities experienced storm damage.

This weekend is trending wet again on Sunday with showers lingering into the holiday on Monday morning as well. The weather pattern through the rest of the month is trending wetter than average with the GFS and EURO model projecting at least some rain every weekend for the rest of the month.

However, that doesn't mean the weekend will be a washout, there's plenty of dry time this Saturday and perhaps some dry spots for Sunday morning. The risk for rain on Sunday is lower farther north which is great for fall foliage and Monday afternoon is also trending drier. So it's still very possible to make the most of it!