Long Island will have "a pretty nice weekend" with the temperature in the 70s and very little chance of rain, which is concerning if rainfall doesn’t pick up, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jay Engle.

The region typically gets more than 4 inches of rainfall in August, but just a half-inch of rain fell last month. The rainfall deficit has continued to a lesser degree in September, Engle told Newsday on Saturday.

"The reason why we’re starting to run a deficit is because August was so dry," he said. "If it continues later into the month and into October, then people have to watch [where they are] extinguishing cigarette butts and things like that because the dry ground starts to become timber."

On Aug. 29, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation pl

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