NJ leaps back to the chilly side with one-day cold snap

The Bottom Line

As expected, in the wake of Wednesday's cold front, we were left with a whipping wind and tumbling temperatures. Welcome back to the chilly side, New Jersey. We face one whole day of blustery, bundle-up conditions before our next warming trend kicks in.

Each of the next several days will be about 5 degrees warmer than the day before. There is another storm system coming down the line on Saturday. It will be another rainmaker.

Overall, this is a very typical March-ish weather pattern. Temperatures bouncing around from cool to mild, with occasional bursts of rain and snow. Having said that, there are no significant winter storms on the horizon. And we are rapidly running out of cold air to make some more snowy magic before the end of the winter season.

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Thursday

Top wind gusts overnight were about 60 mph, enough to knock down tree branches, cause sporadic power outages, and blow over garbage cans. Meanwhile, temperatures have fallen to around 30 degrees. Most of the state is starting the day below freezing, so watch out for icy spots.

High temperatures Thursday will only reach about 40 degrees, give or take. Easily the coldest day of the week. In fact, this will be the only day with below-normal temperatures.

The chilly northwesterly breeze will continue through about sunset. Not as fierce as it was earlier this morning. But we will still see regular gusts over 20 mph. Blustery is a good word.

Sunshine will mix with passing clouds. And there are some bands of lake-effect snow streaming off of Erie and Ontario. There is a chance a snow shower or snow squall reaches New Jersey at some point Thursday. (Or at least some extra cloud cover from those decayed showers.) No accumulation is expected. But a sudden, unexpected drop in visibility could be hazardous.

Thursday night, the wind calms down. And it will be clear and cold. Low temperatures will dip into the upper 20s by Friday morning.

Friday

Will March "roar" in like a lion this year? Nope. It will be a quiet, seasonable start to the new month.

Friday will start with sunshine, before clouds increase late-day. Winds will be light and weather will stay dry.

High temperatures on Friday will improve to the mid to upper 40s. That is pretty close to normal for early March. Contributing to a relatively pleasant day overall.

Saturday

Our next storm system will arrive early Saturday morning. It is another rainmaker. And it will unfortunately make for a wet start to the weekend.

I do not think we're facing anything severe or dramatic or wintry. Just rain, starting just after Midnight Saturday morning and lasting through at least midday.

Various forecast models do show different solutions for the spread of rain (scattered showers vs. persistent steady rain) and rainfall totals (barely a half-inch vs. over an inch). As usual, I am leaning right in the middle for now.

Hopefully, we can salvage a piece of Saturday afternoon, although skies will stay cloudy and conditions generally damp. Saturday will be on the mild side, with high temperatures around 50 degrees. (Realistically, that is mid 40s north, mid 50s south.)

High temperatures through the first half of next week will be in the 50s, at least. Possibly some 60s. But clouds and patchy drizzle may interfere with that next springlike warmup.

Next widespread chance of rain and influx of chilly air looks to arrive around Wednesday or Thursday of next week.

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