After a pretty bleak weekend filled with rain and wind, the week ahead will headline several chances of showers and the return of cooler temperatures.

Here are your weather headlines for Monday, March 16, 2015...

Fairly Quiet, Mild Monday

Widespread wind gusts over 40 mph made for a blustery day on Sunday, but today looks much quieter. Winds have already calmed down this morning, and should stay below 15 mph through the day. Meanwhile, with temperatures climbing into the 50s this afternoon (right around normal for mid-March), we should have a decent weather day... as long as you don’t mind some grey skies.

Yes, increasing clouds today will signal some upcoming changes to our weather, with a couple of rain chances over the next 24 to 36 hours. First, a chance for a few sprinkles as clouds thicken up today. Second, a line of light showers will push through the state between about Midnight tonight and Noon tomorrow. Those showers, however, will be battling dry air and will struggle to produce rain for everyone in New Jersey. Regardless, if you have a few raindrops on your car when you wake up tomorrow morning, don’t be surprised. With lows in the 40s tonight, anything that falls should be rain.

Turning Cooler

The aforementioned rain will develop ahead of a cold front that will slowly push through New Jersey through the day on Tuesday. Remember: the definition of a “front” is simply the leading edge of a different air mass. In this case, it’s the leading edge of a slightly cooler piece of the atmosphere. That cooler air will arrive from north to south from Tuesday morning through Tuesday evening. We do have to give a fairly wide forecast high temperature range on Tuesday (50° to 62°), as thermometers will start falling as soon as the front passes. You will certainly know once the front is through - the wind will kick up to 15 to 25 mph, and it will immediately feel a few degrees cooler.

Even though this is not an “arctic” cold front, you’ll still notice the resulting weather impacts. Wednesday morning looks like a hard freeze for most of the state, and Wednesday afternoon will see highs only in the lower to mid 40s (compared to 50s and 60s on Tuesday). A gusty wind will make that feel even cooler.

Scanning the Horizon

Beyond the light shower chance Tuesday morning, there are two more chances for precipitation through the next 7 days. The first will come on Friday, as a coastal storm system presents a near-miss for New Jersey. At the moment, it looks like just clouds and a few showers will affect the state on Friday (especially in South Jersey). However, this is a storm and a forecast to keep an eye on, since this system is a bit close for comfort. Even if the storm track shifts further toward the coast, it would likely be a rainy day for us, and not anything wintry.

From Saturday night into Sunday morning, another system of the clipper variety has shown up on the forecast models. Given the overnight timing, it could be mostly snow or wintry mix (depending on exact temperatures). Even so, accumulations should be light or non-existent, and the precipitation should be done by the daytime hours on Sunday.

So, nothing huge coming up for New Jersey... Just a few shower chances and temperatures generally below normal. Have a great week!

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