And temperatures will get even cooler through the middle of the week.

Here are your weather headlines for Monday, October 24, 2016...

The Chill of Autumn

The fierce fall wind was more than noticeable this weekend, as our weather transitioned from summerlike to autumnlike over the course of just a few days. High temperatures on Sunday reached 65 degrees at Newark, Trenton, and Atlantic City (triple!), just above normal for this time of year (normals are 63, 62, and 64, respectively).

Temperatures on Monday will be similar, reaching the lower to mid 80s across most of the New Jersey. However, we'll start to feel a few minors effects of a cold front passage. First, we had scattered showers and sprinkles across the northern half of the state early Monday morning - as of this writing, those raindrops are now done. Second, the arrival of cooler air will likely keep far North Jersey a bit cooler Monday, potentially keeping high temperatures in the upper 50s. And third, we'll have to deal with a stiff breeze, with gusts to about 30 mph.

"Jacket days" are indeed becoming the norm as we dive deeper into the cold half of the year.

Even Chillier

Point blank, some of the coolest air of the fall season (so far) is on the way for Tuesday and Wednesday.

High temperatures will be limited to the lower to mid 50s. A brisk wind with 35 mph gusts is expected for Tuesday (at least). The real time to watch will be early Wednesday morning - our latest forecast drops low temperatures to the 30 to 38 degree range. So, the hilltops of North Jersey and the middle of the Pine Barrens may drop below freezing for a few hours. The rest of the state, except the Jersey Shore, will probably experience a frost (< 38 degrees).

Gardeners, beware!

Some Rain

An storm system will ride along a rising warm front on Thursday to bring the Garden State a decent chance of rain. Dare I say, the potential is there for a period of heavy rain Thursday afternoon. We really need it - 4% of NJ is now in Severe Drought, with an additional 51% of the state in Moderate Drought.

Alongside the rain will come a slight warmup, to the 60s by Friday and Saturday. A shortwave could bring us some showers during the day on Saturday, before a cold front drops temperatures again for the second half of the weekend. Your Halloween forecast currently looks seasonably cool and dry.

Dan Zarrow is Chief Meteorologist for Townsquare Media New Jersey. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter for the latest forecast and realtime weather updates.

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