Summery Saturday in NYC sets stage for darkened skies, thunderstorms

Mother Nature is about to give New Yorkers whiplash.A stunning, sunny day with near record-high temps is on tap for Saturday, meteorologists said — but the taste of summer is a cruel joke compared with what’s coming.Temperatures are expected to plummet more than 30 degrees, with potentially damaging 60-mph wind gusts and severe thunderstorms heading toward the Big Apple by Monday.A high of 83 degrees, the sixth hottest on record for the date and close to the record of 86 set in 1998 and 1945, will make for a beach-worthy start to the weekend.

But meteorologists warn the summer-like heat will be “short-lived.”“We’re going to be back in the 50s tomorrow,” Cody Braud, a meteorologist with Fox Weather, told The Post.“It’s about a 30-degree swing just from one day — today to tomorrow.So I can imagine that’s not going to sit well with a lot of people … If you react to weather differently, I can imagine that’s going to hit you kind of hard if you’re out and about the next couple of days.”And Sunday’s cloudy and cool forecast, which includes the potential for a light shower, only sets the stage for a nasty start to the work week on Monday.That’s when the real rain is expected to douse the Big Apple, with the National Weather Service predicting intense weather for the day.The metro area will fall under a Level 1 Severe Weather Threat but is in danger of creeping into Level 2 during the day — which means the difference between isolated and scattered thunderstorms.

Those storms will likely roll through in the evening Monday or overnight, Braud forecasted.“The biggest threats that we will have to keep a close eye on would be the threat for some strong-to-damaging winds during the late hours of the day,” he continued.Winds can whip up to as high as 60 mph on Monday — which the NWS classifies as “damaging.”The Big Apple has been experiencing a windier spring than usual this year, with more than half the days in March registering “...