Meteorological winter, or the three coldest months of the year on average, arrived today with nice and calm weather. That is all about to change for tomorrow!

For Long Island, this next storm will pretty much bring all rain other than a very small chance of some mixing early in the morning. Snow from this storm will stay well north and west of Long Island and we will have temperatures near 50 degrees on Tuesday.

The rain will be heaviest from late-morning through late-afternoon. If you work a typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. day, you will likely be heading home from work as the rain is beginning to taper off. Please just slow down traveling, especially as the heaviest rain is falling in the afternoon.

Flooding is not expected to be widespread, but there can be isolated instances of nuisance ponding of water through Tuesday afternoon.

Wind gusts will pick up into the evening and can peak between 20 and 40 mph. This will help to dry up the ground, but patchy black ice can form on untreated surfaces into Wednesday morning.

Beyond that, the rest of the week looks chilly and dry. The trends for a snow or rain / mix for Friday night and Saturday have been looking drier. We will have much higher confidence in that weekend forecast following the rain on Tuesday.

Have a great night and be sure to stick with News 12 all day on Tuesday for STORM WATCH updates as the heavy rain moves through Long Island. We will have those for you on-air, on the News 12 APP and on social media.

FORECAST:

TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy and cold with lows in the upper 20s to low 30s. Temperatures will rise as rain moves in early Tuesday. Wind: northeast-southeast 5-10 mph.

TUESDAY: STORM WATCH — Steady rain develops between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. While brief initial mixing cannot be ruled out, this is primarily all rain for Long Island. Rain will be heavy at times from late-morning through late-afternoon. Rain is expected to amount to one to two inches which can lead to scattered nuisance flooding. Rain will taper off from west to east starting around 4 p.m. in Nassau County and by around 7 p.m. in most of Suffolk County. Use caution traveling! It will become windy through the day, too. Wind: southeast to northwest 10 to 20 mph with gusts approaching 30 to 40 mph at times in the evening. The wind will help dry the roads out after the rain ends, but spotty icy areas from re-freezing are possible as low temperatures drop to the low 30s into Wednesday morning.

WEDNESDAY: Patchy icy areas early. Then, a mainly sunny to partly cloudy day. Highs around 42 degrees. Lows near 30 degrees. THURSDAY: Partly sunny and breezy. Highs around 42 degrees. Much colder at night with lows near 19 degrees. FRIDAY: Sun and clouds. Highs around 37 degrees. Lows near 28 degrees. SATURDAY: Watching a slight chance of mixed snow or rain showers. The latest trends keep Long Island mostly dry. If those trends hold, expect a dry day with breaks of sun. Highs around 43 degrees. Lows near 30 degrees. SUNDAY: Partly sunny. Highs around 43 degrees. Lows near 26 degrees.

MONDAY: Mostly sunny and cold. Highs around 35 degrees. Lows near 23 degrees.