Pockets of moderate to heavy rain will make for an overall wet day for New Jersey, but nice weather resumes later this week.

Here are your weather headlines for Tuesday, April 14, 2015...

Rainy Day

You knew it had to happen eventually... After a stretch of four gorgeous spring days, the time has come for the return of April showers.

As a (weak) cold front pushes through New Jersey today, a line of rain will push through as well. The rain began right around 5 a.m. this morning in northwestern New Jersey and will continue spreading south and east this morning. We'll watch for showers to potentially continue for South Jersey through this evening. There are already pockets of moderate to heavy rain; the biggest concern of the day will be a wave of energy riding along the front late this morning through this afternoon. That would cause a heavier “burst” of rain for South Jersey. Minor flooding will be a problem if it rains very hard over one area in a short time. At the same time, there doesn’t look to be much instability (energy) in the atmosphere, so I think we’re talking about just a solid period showers and rain, and not thunderstorms. Regardless, I can’t rule out a few rumbles of thunder at some point today in the heaviest rain bands.

By midnight tonight, the rain will be all done. Skies will clear overnight.

Nice Couple of Days

Following today’s episode of wet weather, I’m pleased to say that we'll go right back to dry, pleasant weather for Wednesday. Temperatures won’t be in the mid 70s as they were yesterday... But upper 60s isn’t bad, and sunshine should dominate our skies. We’ll pick up a stiff northerly breeze up to 20 mph tomorrow too.

On Thursday, that brisk wind switches around to a southeasterly direction, an on-shore flow that will bring very different weather conditions. Thursday will be cloudier and cooler than Wednesday, with highs around 60 degrees. So, while you might need a jacket for much of the day, I think you’ll find Thursday to be a decent day overall with near-normal temperatures.

Messy Weekend?

The forecast model view of the upcoming weekend is muddled - in other words, there’s not great agreement. While it looks like the mild temperatures in the 60s and even 70s will continue, there’s also some more rain on the way. At the moment, it looks like we’ll have one batch of showers on Friday morning and then another from Saturday night through Sunday. It doesn’t look like anything too heavy at the moment, but certainly enough rain and enough cloud cover to put a damper on the weekend as a whole. For now, if you’re looking for the best time to get outside for a bit this weekend, Saturday morning and early afternoon looks to be the best bet. But that is subject to change as we get closer and the forecast resolution gets a bit sharper.

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