Sunny, calm but cool weather ahead

Despite abundant sunshine, the forecast for the next few days will keep temperatures just below mid-January normals.

Here are your New Jersey weather headlines for Thursday, January 15:

Quiet and Cool Thursday

Today’s weather looks decent, as high pressure takes control of New Jersey’s atmosphere for the next couple days. We’ll still be on the cool side today, as high temperatures in the 32° to 38° range will be about 5° below average for mid-January. Aside from a few flurries, skies will remain quiet and dry today.

Wind Picks Up

As that dome of high pressure departs, we’ll see winds pick up by about Noon on Friday. Sustained winds could climb to about 25 miles per hour for much of Friday afternoon and early evening. The wind will add a blustery character to an otherwise sunny and mild day with a high temperature approaching 40 degrees.

Weekend Storm System

Our next weather maker will come in the second half of the upcoming weekend. A storm system will slide up the Atlantic coast, and should bring some precipitation to New Jersey by Sunday afternoon. Usually a coastal storm in the winter would have me very worried about major winter storm potential... But with high temperatures on Sunday ranging from the mid 40s to about 50 degrees, I'm pretty confident that this will be a mostly rain event. In fact, current models show we should expect periods of moderate to heavy rain on Sunday, potentially leading to 1-2 inches of total rainfall. As temperatures drop throughout the atmosphere after sunset on Sunday, the rain could briefly transition over to snow. However, little to no snow accumulation is expected, due to the warm, wet ground and the limited time when snow will be able to occur.