Skies and temperatures across the Garden State will generally improve late Tuesday into Wednesday, with a real taste of fall weather just around the corner.

Here are your weather headlines for Tuesday, September 20, 2016...

Slow Improvements

Monday's healthy rainfall was a welcome sight across New Jersey, greening up lawns and filling up lakes and reservoirs. We registered widespread rain totals in the 1 to 2 inch range, with a swath of 3 inches of rain from the Delaware Bay into the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. Unfortunately, month-to-date precipitation remains below normal in northern and central New Jersey. So the drought concerns continue...

Our storm system is now almost totally gone. We are still under the influence of the outer edges of an area of low pressure off the Carolina coast (formerly known as Tropical Storm Julia). Therefore, a few showers may bubble up into South Jersey today. But for the most part, we're looking at a dry Tuesday.

Some patchy dense fog developed overnight, reducing visibilities in spots. Thick clouds will probably keep skies overcast to mostly cloudy through Tuesday afternoon. If any clearing of the skies occurs during the day, it will happen in NW NJ.

Thermometers will be warmer on Tuesday than Monday, with high temperatures peaking in the lower 80s.

A Nice Stretch

Skies will slowly clear Tuesday night into Wednesday, from northwest to southeast. By Wednesday afternoon, at the latest, we'll be back to happy sunshine. Furthermore, humidity will drop to more comfortable levels.

Thursday is the first day of fall. And, with mostly sunny skies in the forecast, it will probably be the "weather winner" of the week. Friday looks good too, although clouds will increase a bit again.

Meanwhile, temperatures will remain quite consistent this week. It will be nice and warm, holding about 5 to 10 degrees above normal, generally in the 80 to 85 degree range.

Changes by the Weekend

In Monday's blog post, I hesitated regarding the forecast of Julia's remnants. Models have come to reasonable agreement that the storm system will slide east (out-to-sea) instead of north (toward Jersey). So I'm more comfortable putting forth a dry forecast for Thursday through the weekend.

As a matter of fact, a cold front will deliver us a shot of cooler air over the weekend. Are you ready for a real autumn chill?

Our current forecast calls for high temperatures in the 70s on Saturday and only 60s on Sunday. Morning lows could dip into the 40s for most of New Jersey. That's really close to the approximate frost point of 37 degrees. If the forecast trends cooler, North Jersey could be in danger of the first frost of the season on Sunday or Monday morning. Gardeners, we'll keep you posted in case any frost advisories are issued.

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

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