Friday is an active, tumultuous weather day for NJ: Rain, wind, cooldown

Friday is going to be an active, tumultuous, and even downright nasty weather day at times. The morning begins with periods of rain, which will be heavy at times. This raises concerns for poor traction, low visibility, and big puddles — especially when combined with the massive amount of snowmelt that will occur due to the warm rainfall. Rumbles of thunder and gusty winds are possible too. As lingering showers exit around early afternoon and skies start to clear, it will turn windy and sharply colder. Temperatures will drop from upper 50s to around 40 degrees within hours, then into the 20s overnight. The weekend starts chilly, with Saturday's highs only in the upper 30s. Sunday is the first day of winter, and the nicer day of the weekend, with a temporary warmup into the mid 40s.

Get our free mobile app

Friday NJ weather: Rain, wind, big cooldown

There is a lot of weather going on Friday. The morning will be rainy and windy. The afternoon will turn colder and windy. Not very pleasant, even nasty at times.

Rain arrived early Friday morning. And as of this writing (7 a.m.), it is really pouring in spots. Poor traction, low visibility, and big puddles will be issues for several hours.

Expect periods of rain throughout the morning, with lingering showers finally exiting around early afternoon. Models have been fairly consistent in showing a squall line developing around 9 or 10 a.m. — a short burst of heavy rain and gusty winds. So wind, rumbles of thunder, and downpours are possible. We will probably end up with about an inch of total rainfall here. Top wind gusts could reach 40 or 50 mph.

Once the rain exits, skies will slowly start to clear. And a brand new, cold, dry air mass will start to "whoosh" into New Jersey. So a new northwesterly brisk wind will again potentially gust to 40+ mph. Temperatures will crash, from a high in the upper 50s around late morning to near 40 degrees by sunset.

And it will get even colder Friday night, of course. It looks like thermometers will bottom out around the upper 20s. A freeze for most, so watch for slippery spots. And we are back to bundling up, especially with a continuing breeze pushing the wind chill into the teens overnight.

Saturday NJ weather: Settling down, back to the chilly side

Our weather calms down and chills out for this final shopping weekend before Christmas.

Expect a mix of sun and clouds on Saturday. The breeze should be fairly light. High temperatures will only reach the upper 30s.

Sunday NJ weather: Seasonable start to winter

The Winter Solstice arrives on Sunday at 10:03 a.m. And Sunday will actually turn out to be the nicer of the weekend days.

I will call it mostly sunny and breezy. Highs will temporarily push back into the seasonable mid 40s.

Monday NJ weather: Colder again

Colder air returns on Monday, so highs will return to the chilly mid 30s again.

Our next storm system shows up in model guidance for Tuesday, which is Christmas Eve Eve. It does not look particularly strong or well-organized. But scattered showers Tuesday morning could have a wintry component, especially for the northern half of the state. I will even say light accumulations are possible if it stays cold enough and snows for long enough.

Temperatures will moderate again as Christmas approaches, with highs back in the 40s soon enough. There could be some more inclement weather late next week, right around Christmas Day. But that looks more wet than wintry given those higher temps.

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