Scattered areas of rain are expected to push through the Garden State for the first half of Thursday, and again Thursday night through Friday morning.

Here are your weather headlines for Thursday, June 16, 2016...

A Little Bit of Rain

New Jersey is currently sitting right on the northern edge of a warm frontal boundary. We're close enough to get some rain over the next 24 to 36 hours, but not so close that we'll feel the heat and humidity that has been building to the south.

So far, scattered showers have been traversing all sectors of New Jersey on this Thursday morning. As of this writing, the highest rain totals occurred in far South Jersey, with just over a half-inch reported in Woodbine, Cape May County.

A few more areas of rain are showing up on radar back to the west, headed mainly for northern and central New Jersey. We'll keep rain in the forecast through about Noon Thursday, after which we should get a break in the wet weather. Skies will remain mostly cloudy, humidity will remain high, and temperatures will be limited to the lower to mid 70s (about 5 degrees below normal for mid-June.)

One more batch of rain is expected Thursday evening through the overnight hours. I've been waffling back and forth with this forecast all week, whether it would or would not affect New Jersey. Confidence is still a little shaky - but the bottom line is that the further south and west you are, the better the chance for a period of steady rain Thursday night. North Jersey will probably remain dry. Central Jersey may remain dry. South Jersey will most likely see some rain.

Clearing Out for the Weekend

By Friday afternoon, the rain will be done for the Garden State, and skies will start to clear. Actually, I think Friday will turn into a nice day, with a return to low humidity and pleasant temperatures in the mid to upper 70s.

The grand finale of Spring, the Father's Day Weekend, looks fantastic. High temperatures will be around 80 degrees for inland New Jersey on Saturday. The Jersey Shore will end up cooler, around 70 degrees. Abundant sunshine, a light breeze, and low humidity should make up for the shortfall.

Sunday looks beautiful as well, with slightly warmer high temperatures in the lower 80s and continuing sunshine.

Steamy Start to Summer

The official start of summer - the Summer Solstice - is Monday, June 20 at 6:34 p.m. And it looks like temperatures and humidity will make a noticeable leap upwards. How appropriate!

Monday's high temperatures are forecast to climb into the mid 80s, as dew points jump into the 60s. Steamy! Tuesday looks very warm, in the mid to upper 80s, with a brisk southwest wind and dew points near 70. Sticky!

Our next storm system will tentatively cool us off amidst potentially strong thunderstorms, in the Tuesday night to Wednesday time frame.

Dan Zarrow is Chief Meteorologist for Townsquare Media New Jersey. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter for the latest forecast and realtime weather updates.

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