About last night: I’m not a meteorologist, but I play one on the radio

So ... we had some rain last night, didn't we?

If you're a regular reader of Dan's blog (and you should be!), you know that I told you Thursday morning that thunderstorms would only affect North Jersey on Thursday night, before spreading to the middle part of the state — I'll leave it up to you to discern whether "Central Jersey" exists or not — sometime Friday afternoon.

That did not exactly happen.

I know that I got walloped at home in Hunterdon County, which I wouldn't classify as North Jersey, during the evening hours. Then, driving south into Mercer County early Friday, the damage from the storms that came through there was obvious on the roads: downed branches, dimmed traffic signals, emergency crews already out in force.

So we reset, and adjust. Hey, there's a reason a 2-year-old is above me on the 101.5 meteorologist depth chart. I mean, he's related to Dan, but still. I do apologize if you were taken by surprise ("by storm"?) Thursday night. I'm just working with what I've been given!

As of Friday morning, the outlook for the rest of this day to end your work week is less severe than previously thought, again, presumably because some storms have hurried their way through New Jersey already. Daytime hours will feature hazy sunshine, continued humidity, and yes, a stray afternoon thunderstorm chance in South Jersey. Highs remain, well, high: upper 80s to mid-90s, with heat index values on Friday from 95 to 103, and an Excessive Heat Warning continuing for Camden, Gloucester, Mercer, and northwest Burlington counties until 8 p.m.

Friday night, things calm down a little bit: partly cloudy skies, with lows in the mid-60s in the northwest corner of the state, and in the 70s elsewhere.

Similar to Friday, Saturday does not look as bad as it once did. There will still be widely scattered showers and thunderstorms, but the real heavy stuff isn't expected now until Sunday. On Saturday, a mix of sun and clouds combines with lingering humidity to put our high temperatures in the mid-80s to lower 90s.

The scattered showers and thunderstorms originally forecast for both Saturday and Sunday have been mostly confined to Sunday at this point, and they've been characterized as strong to severe, featuring heavy rain and gusty winds. Highs on Sunday will be somewhere in the mid-80s.

But then again, what do I know?

Enjoy your weekend.

Meteorologist Dan Zarrow, who knows infinitely more about these things than I do, returns Monday, July 24. My name is Patrick Lavery, and I produce "New Jersey's First News" in addition to being New Jersey 101.5's morning drive breaking news reporter.

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