Tuesday Will Be a Practically Perfect Weather Day Across NJ

Most of the state will enjoy mostly sunny skies for most of the day, but a few extra clouds and a shower will be possible too.

Here are your weather headlines for Tuesday, May 16, 2017...

Tuesday: Practically Perfect

Ugh. I was so looking forward to calling Tuesday a true beauty... a perfect weather day... a top 10 day in the making! But then along came this stupid cluster of thunderstorms diving southeast through Michigan, perfectly aimed for New Jersey later today. While it will fizzle significantly by the time it reaches the Garden State, we'll still feel minor impacts later on.

So I can't call it a "perfect" day. Hence, I have to channel my inner Mary Poppins and declare Tuesday "practically perfect".

It is a beautiful morning, with a bright and colorful sunrise and seasonable temperatures around 50 degrees statewide. The best chance for extra clouds and a pesky shower will be Tuesday afternoon in North Jersey (mainly north of I-78).

Regardless of what the sky does, we will enjoy pleasantly warm temperatures Tuesday. High temperatures are forecast to reach the upper 70s, a bit above normal for mid-May. The Shore will be cooler, and North Jersey will be too. We'll probably see a few 80s in South Jersey. Humidity will be manageable and winds will be much lighter than Monday.

Tuesday evening and Tuesday night will be lovely as well. Overnight lows will fall to around 60 degrees

Wednesday & Thursday: Mid-Summer Heat

As high pressure settles south of New Jersey for the middle part of the week, we'll see a shift to southwesterly winds. That will open the door to some incredibly warm and humid air.

You will definitely notice the warmer temps and the stickiness in the air on Wednesday. High temperatures are forecast to reach the upper 80s to near 90 degrees away from the ocean. (Yes, 90!) Even the Jersey Shore will probably hit 80 degrees on Wednesday. Skies will feature more sunshine than cloud cover — again, it's going to be reminiscent of the middle of summer.

Wednesday night into Thursday morning will be muggy and very warm, with fog and lows only falling to the upper 60s. That will set up our atmosphere for a downright hot and humid Thursday. High temperatures will be close to 90 degree statewide, despite mostly cloudy skies.

Changes for the Weekend

Friday will be very warm too, with highs in the mid to upper 80s. (Could somewhere in South Jersey see three 90-degree days in a row?) Skies will still be mostly cloudy, and the breeze will be stronger on Friday too.

Our next weather shift will arrive Friday night into the weekend. Uncertainty remains high in the precise details of this forecast. I think the overall picture results in an on-shore flow, with winds out of the southeast. That will automatically increase clouds and cause a cooldown, probably at or below 70 degrees for both Saturday and Sunday. Rain chances have been decreasing with each successive model run, but I wouldn't rule out scattered raindrops along the way. Bottom line: the weekend won't be nearly as summerlike as the workweek. We'll add more precision and confidence as the week rolls on.