If you can find relief in the third consecutive day of high heat on Wednesday, you'd be wise to do so. A built-in reprieve, in the form of intermittent rain showers, will begin to bring temperatures back down by Thursday.

Once again we have sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-90s as we hit the middle of the week, with a heat advisory still in effect until 8 p.m. Wednesday, and heat index values crossing the 100-degree mark. The evening turns hazy, then clear, and overnight lows look to be in the 70s for most of the state, but closer to 80 in urban spots — just like Tuesday night.

Thursday begins partly sunny, but we are still on track for late-day showers and thunderstorms to develop, with highs in the upper 80s ... though it should be noted that heat indices will remain in the 90s at least for another day.

On Friday, we cool down even more, but not drastically: highs hovering around 80, with another mix of sun and clouds, and an afternoon shower.

The start of the holiday weekend, as we hinted on Tuesday, follows much the same pattern as Thursday and Friday, with some rain, but not at washout levels.

Meteorologist Dan Zarrow is on vacation and returns Tuesday, Sept. 4. Patrick Lavery is Senior Producer of Morning News and Special Programming for New Jersey 101.5, and is lead reporter and substitute anchor for "New Jersey's First News."

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