Record breaking rainfall interrupts morning, evening commute
Smithtown, NY (SmithtownRadio.com) – A round of powerful thunderstorms rolling across the greater Smithtown area Monday shattered rainfall records and brought commutes to a standstill.
The first batch of storms, which rolled in around 8am, shutdown a portion of the Sagtikos Parkway because of flooding. The Long Island Power Authority worked through the morning hours to restore power to Village of the Branch after a wire came down on Main Street.
The National Weather Service automated observation station at Long Island MacArthur Airport, which is the official observation station for the greater Smithtown area, recorded a record 4.15 inches of rainfall. The rainfall shatters the previous record for June 25, which was 0.4 inches set in 1984.
A severe thunderstorm that pushed across across the area around 6p dropped one inch size hail throughout central Suffolk, including portions of Ronkonkoma and Coram.
The storms were riding a cold front pushing across the region. With the front now passed, temperatures Tuesday are not expect to climb out of the lower 70s. Forecasters say temperatures will climb to 80 again by Wednesday.
