Mostly to partly sunny skies will assist a pleasant warmup starting today, with a return to the 80s and a return of humid conditions expected by the upcoming Mother’s Day Weekend.

Here are your weather headlines for Thursday, May 7, 2015...

Two Beautiful Days

As high pressure takes over New Jersey's weather once again, we’ll return to sunshine and warm temperatures today and tomorrow. Even though a few extra clouds will dot the skies of the Garden State this afternoon, I think we can still safely call it mostly sunny overall today. High temperatures should mostly reach the upper 70s, with a couple of 80° readings possible. Along the Jersey Shore, a light sea breeze will kick up again today, keeping temperatures a bit cooler - probably in the lower 70s at best today.

Tomorrow’s forecast calls for a few more clouds, but slightly warmer temperatures on either side of 80°. Again, it will be noticeably cooler right at the beach.

Warm, Humid, Mostly Dry Weekend

The warm temperatures will stick around for this weekend, and our weather is indeed looking mostly dry. Highs on Saturday will once again top out within a few degrees of 80°, and Sunday looks even warmer with widespread lower 80s (except along the coast).

Meanwhile, dew points (a measure of moisture in the atmosphere) are expected to climb into the lower 60s on Sunday and especially Monday. That’s definitely entering the “sticky” zone on the humidity scale, so I think the warmth on Sunday could get a bit uncomfortable. A real taste of summer!

The one hitch for the weekend - and the reason I have to say it’ll be mostly dry - will be a chance for a couple of isolated afternoon thunderstorms. We call these “diurnal” thunderstorms, which form during and are fueled by daytime heating. Most of the state should stay rain-free and storm-free, but it will be wise to keep an eye on the skies, just in case.

Tropical Storm?

There is a weird little storm moving toward the Carolina coast that could have some effect on New Jersey’s weather through early next week. While this system isn’t a tropical depression or tropical storm as of this writing, the National Hurricane Center has given a 70% chance that it will be upgraded later today.

Again, I want to stress that there are no major impacts expected for New Jersey, as the storm will mostly stall, sit, and spin over the Carolinas. Even though it is staying south of us, here are the potential effects on our weather this weekend and early next week:

  • First and foremost, I think we'll see some extra cloud cover and humidity thanks to this system - especially Sunday and Monday.
  • I'm also a bit concerned that a piece of energy will spin off from the storm this weekend and spawn a few showers and thunderstorms here (hence my "Chance of an isolated afternoon thunderstorm" in the forecast for both Saturday and Sunday).
  • The system will finally unhinge itself on Monday and ride along a front that will push through New Jersey early Tuesday. It won't have much "oomph” left at this point, and for the most part it will aim out to sea. But the remnants could help enhance any frontal rain and storms Monday night through Tuesday as it passes by the Jersey Shore.
  • As for the ocean forecast, there are no major concerns here because of the placement of the storm and the expected wind speed and direction. However, seas are expected to climb from 2 feet to 4 feet through the weekend, but that is still below Small Craft Advisory criteria.

We’ll keep a close eye on this one, and let you know if that forecast changes at all.

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