Lovely stretch of sunny, dry, crisp weather continues for NJ

The Bottom Line

Happy day after Labor Day, New Jersey! It is officially climatological autumn now. Not to mention back-to-school season, football season, and pumpkin spice season. 'Local Summer' is officially on at the Jersey Shore. And wearing white is now completely unacceptable.

Weatherwise, we start this abbreviated workweek in a gorgeous slice of the atmosphere. High pressure will remain in control of New Jersey until about Thursday, keeping humidity, rain, and most clouds far away.

Temperatures will run about 5 to 10 degrees below normal for this time of year. It will feel more like typical late September weather, rather than early September. But still, no complaints here.

Our next storm system comes into view just in time for the weekend. Steady to heavy rain could unfortunately make for a period of lousy weather, centered on Saturday.

Tuesday

We are entering the time of year where you may have to consider a jacket or sweater late nights or early mornings.

The combination of clear skies and a dry, cool air mass have allowed temperatures to dip into the lower 50s (on average) overnight. There are a few spots in the upper 40s to start the day.

High temperatures Tuesday afternoon are forecast to reach the mid 70s. A bit cooler than Labor Day Monday, but the bright sunshine will eliminate any chill in the air.

It will be sunny and dry, with low humidity and a fresh northerly breeze. Overall fantastic.

Tuesday night will be clear, calm, and cool. Low temperatures will once again average lower 50s by Wednesday morning.

Wednesday

Another very nice day, with more sunshine for most of the state.

There will be two subtle changes compared to Tuesday:
1.) Wind direction flips from northerly to southeasterly. A light on-shore breeze.
2.) A bank of clouds will clip the southern edge of New Jersey.

It will be another dry, pleasant day overall with high temperatures in the lower to mid 70s.

Thursday

The pleasant, dry weather continues for another day. Although, again, a couple of little changes settle in Thursday, as high pressure starts to depart.

Skies will turn partly sunny across New Jersey, although nothing will fall from the sky.

Humidity will tick up slightly too, as dew points return to the "sticky" 60s by Thursday evening.

Temperatures will remain consistent from the rest of the week, peaking in the lower to mid 70s once again.

Friday

Friday is probably the warmest day left this week, with high temperatures reaching about 75 to 80 degrees. Clouds will continue to stream in throughout the day — I'll call it mostly cloudy. And there is a slight chance of a shower at some point.

Still pretty pleasant Friday. But those changes are signs of even more significant weather changes for the first full weekend of September.

Saturday & Beyond

It is becoming increasingly clear that it is going to rain on Saturday. Likely heavy at times, and for most (if not all) of the day.

There are still some question marks here. Specifically whether the rain will start Friday night, whether it will linger into Sunday morning, and just how much rain will fall. Some models are pumping out rainfall totals in the 1 to 3+ inch rain, which could be enough to raise flooding concerns.

At the very least, it will be cloudy, cool, and unsettled. Temperatures may not pass 70 degrees for much of the state Saturday.

Sunday is tricky, as the chance of rain continues. At the same time, we could see increasing breaks of sun late-day. My current forecast shows high temperatures back in the 70s — although that is still below seasonal normals.

And that concludes the only batch of inclement weather in the forecast, unfortunately centered directly over the weekend. We flip right back to beautiful, sunny, comfortable weather next week.