NJ weather: Quiet for now, another wet and warm end to the week
Hello and Happy Boxing Day! As you battle your post-holiday hangover (alcoholic or otherwise), our weather forecast will stay nice and quiet for the next couple of days. In fact, there's really only one storm system of note through the end of the year.
If you liked Tuesday's weather, you'll like Wednesday's forecast too. We're starting out subfreezing across most of the state, with most temps in the 20s. I've opted for a "persistence plus one" forecast — taking Tuesday's observed high temperatures, adding 1 degree, and inserting into Wednesday's forecast. 40 to 45 degrees will do it, near-normal for late December. Skies will be mostly sunny, weather will be dry, and winds will remain light. Not bad at all, by late December standards.
Wednesday night will be clear and chilly. Low temperatures will once again dip into the upper 20s to around 30 degrees.
The daytime hours on Thursday will remain quiet, although skies will progress from mostly sunny to mostly cloudy. High temperatures will hold steady in the lower to mid 40s.
Our next storm system will come into view late Thursday night, likely after Midnight. Just like the past two systems, it's going to bring almost all rain to New Jersey — I just can't rule out a brief period of wintry mix (snow and freezing rain) during the first hour or two of precipitation.
And for the third week in a row, we'll have a wet (but not wintry) end to the workweek. We'll see periods of rain for most of Friday, at least through the morning and afternoon hours. Total rainfall is expected to range from a half-inch to an inch — nothing too torrential, just a soggy day. Meanwhile, warmer air will once again surge into New Jersey, pushing thermometers to nearly 60 degrees.
By the time you wake up Saturday, we'll already be drying out and skies clearing to golden sunshine for the balance of the weekend. However, a brisk northwesterly wind will carry colder air back into New Jersey. So, while we'll probably see lower 50s on Saturday morning, we'll end up in the upper 30s by Saturday evening. Sunday's high is expected to only reach about 40 degrees.
I've been tracking a southern storm system that is currently forecast to be a "miss" for NJ on Sunday. Still worth watching — if it drifts about a hundred miles north of its current forecast, we could see some snow drift into South Jersey to close out the final weekend of the year.
Clouds and occasional showers will take us into the New Year's holiday. That will be followed by a cooldown and potential storm system during the first week of 2019.
More From 105.7 The Hawk
