Showers and storms are expected to arrive in the Garden State starting this afternoon and this evening, with pockets of heavy rain possible through the overnight hours.

Here are your weather headlines for Thursday, August 20, 2015...

Here Comes the Rain

Thursday is starting off humid and warm yet again, with morning low temperatures in the 70s. That abundant atmospheric moisture will contribute to the drenching rains later today, tonight, and early tomorrow.

Most of Thursday will involve partly to mostly cloudy skies and high humidity. High temperatures will peak in the lower to mid 80s. As the day presses on, a front will be approaching the East Coast. Showers and thunderstorms will start building into New Jersey starting this afternoon, with the first raindrops probably falling in the southwest corner of the state. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will then spread north and east through this evening.

The heaviest rain will happen later tonight, after about 10 p.m., and everyone in New Jersey looks to get some solid rainfall overnight. Forecast rain totals are generally in the widespread 0.75 to 1.75 inch range, with locally higher amounts. Those pockets of torrential rain may very well lead to flooding of low-lying areas. Furthermore, the timing of the heavy rain may coincide with Friday morning's commute... yuck!

Showers and thunderstorms will continue for a time during the day on Friday. The areas of rain are expected to become more scattered, and we could see some clearing and drying out through Friday afternoon.

The Weekend... Eh...

We have been lucky to have enjoyed many "perfect" weekends so far this summer. Unfortunately, Mother Nature has a different plan for this one.

With a storm system parked just off the Jersey coast, we have to keep clouds and showers in the forecast for the weekend. The weekend certainly won't be a washout - any showers should be spotty and light, at best, and not everyone will see rain this weekend. On the plus side, our humidity should decrease slightly from the "oppressive" range to just "sticky". High temperatures for both Saturday and Sunday will be seasonable, mostly in the lower to mid 80s. Rough surf and rip currents will probably be an issue this weekend too, thanks to that system just off-shore.

Big Difference Next Week

Monday looks dry for now, although a southerly wind and breaks of sunshine will bump temperatures into the mid to upper 80s.

Early Tuesday morning, a cold front will pass through New Jersey. A glorious cold front. For now, the frontal passage looks rain-free, and the air behind the front won't be dramatically cooler... but it will be significantly drier. That's right! Farewell humidity, hello comfortable temperatures! Actually, most of next week is looking dry and pleasant with comfortably cool mornings and sunny, warm afternoon.s.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Danny is still way out in the Atlantic Ocean and expected to impact the islands of the eastern Caribbean Sea on Monday morning. Models diverge significantly on the forecast track by then, so we'll have to continue monitoring closely until they resolve on a more definitive solution.

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