Welcome to Summer – Hot, Stormy Weather to Start the Week

Summer officially began Sunday afternoon, and some real summerlike weather with 90+ degree temperatures will greet New Jersey early this week.

Here are your weather headlines for Monday, June 22, 2015...

Welcome to Summer!

The Summer Solstice officially occurred Sunday at 12:38 p.m., so today marks the first *full* day of summer. That moniker will be especially true given the hot weather forecast for both today and tomorrow. We will enjoy about 15 hours of sunshine between rise and set, in the midst of the the longest days of the year.

A hot air mass will combine with plentiful sunshine today to bump temperatures statewide into the upper 80s to about 90 degrees. A northwest wind at 10 to 15 mph will work against the sea breeze, so even the beach looks quite warm today, likely in the 80s at least.

Not a fan of the heat? The one piece of good news I can offer is that the humidity will be slightly lower today compared to yesterday. Still... 90 degree temperatures can be pretty uncomfortable even in the driest air, so get ready for a real Jersey summer day!

On Tuesday, a cold front will eventually cool us down a little bit. But before that front passes, humidity increases to potentially oppressive levels with dew points well into the 70s. Consequently, low temperatures tonight will only fall to the mid 70s in spots (yuck), and high temperatures tomorrow could soar even higher tomorrow (yikes)... Lower to even mid 90s aren't out of the question.

Storms & Cooldown

While Monday will stay dry, the approaching cold front on Tuesday looks to fire off a line of showers and thunderstorms through the afternoon and evening hours. The rain will help to quickly cool off the steamy 90+ degree temperatures... but at the same time, that heat and humidity could make the storms grow rapidly to strong or severe limits. The Storm Prediction Center has placed area north and west of the NJ Turnpike in a "Slight Risk" (2nd lowest of five probability categories) and the rest of the state in a lesser "Marginal Risk" for Tuesday.

Becoming Quite Unsettled

Behind the cold front will come slightly cooler and much less humid air - a welcome sign after this mini heat wave of three consecutive 90+ degree days. While high temperatures on Wednesday will drop a bit to the mid 80s, the lower humidity and mostly sunny skies are what make me believe Wednesday will likely be the nicest day of the week.

Beyond Wednesday, the forecast gets a bit hazy with another wavering front bringing unsettled weather and persistent rain chances through the end of the week. There's little to no confidence at this time as to exactly how this wet weather event will play out, but showers and strong thunderstorms will be possible for Thursday and Friday at least.