Spectacular sunny weather for Father’s Day Weekend in NJ

As lingering showers fizzle out Friday, skies will clear, humidity will drop, and temperatures will warm for the Garden State for the final weekend of Spring.

Here are your weather headlines for Friday, June 17, 2016...

Clearing Skies Friday

Parts of New Jersey (especially South Jersey) picked up some healthy rainfall on Thursday, with over an inch reports in rain gauges across Cape May County. As of this writing, there are still some rain showers popping up on radar in Cape May and Cumberland counties. Sprinkles may extend as far north as Central Jersey for Friday morning. By mid-morning, any remaining raindrops should fizzle and we will enjoy clearing skies through Friday afternoon.

So Friday will actually turn into a very nice day, with breaks of sunshine and warming temperatures. Highs should return to about the 80 degree mark for inland New Jersey, while coastal communities top out in the lower 70s or so.

Speaking of the Jersey Shore, ocean temperatures are currently in the mid to upper 60s. That's near-normal for this time of year, and still 5 to 10 degrees off our peak heating in August. There is a low to moderate risk of rip currents this weekend.

Spectacular Father's Day Weekend Weather

We'll kick off the big Father's Day Weekend with some pretty cool temperatures on Saturday morning, an effect of to drier air and low humidity. With lows in the mid 50s, thermometers will actually be about 5 to 10 degrees below mid-June normal lows. It probably won't be chilly enough to warrant a jacket (except, perhaps, right on the beach or boardwalk).

The rest of Saturday will feature mostly sunny skies, comfortable humidity levels (dew points in the 50s), and seasonably warm temperatures. Most highs will reach the lower 80s, with the Jersey Shore ending up in the 70s. Winds will blow form the south away from the ocean and in the "light breeze" category, up to 15 mph. It should be another one of those near-perfect almost-summer days!

Sunday looks good too! Sunny skies and dry weather will accompany even warmer temperatures. Highs should bump into the mid to maybe upper 80s to close out the weekend. Even some of our beach towns could hit 80 degrees on Sunday.

Getting Steamy...

Summer officially starts Monday! And the dry, quiet weather will continue, although winds will increase to the 10 to 20 mph range. Humidity will also increase, with dew points creeping into the 60s early next week. As high temperatures once again top out in the mid to upper 80s, it could get a little sticky and steamy. Certainly summer-like... how appropriate!

Tuesday will be steamy too, but our attention will turn to the approaching cold front. A line of thunderstorms is expected in the Tuesday afternoon-evening time frame, which could approach strong or severe limits.

The rain should quickly exit New Jersey Tuesday night, and we'll return to pleasant, seasonable, mostly sunny weather for Wednesday and beyond.

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