Oh, the humidity: Steamy air and heavy rain ahead for NJ

Oh, the humidity! The uncomfortable, unseasonable mugginess is here to stay for a few more days. And so is the unsettled, occasionally wet weather. Wednesday will be mostly cloudy, with just a few sprinkles and showers around in the afternoon. It will be another warm September day, with highs near 80 degrees. The wettest period of this week will be Wednesday night into Thursday, with over an inch of total rainfall in spots. There could be some downpours and strong thunderstorm cells. Drier weather will prevail after Friday morning, but we'll hold on to scattered clouds, moderate humidity levels, and warm temperatures through the weekend. We also have to keep a close eye on the tropics, with one or two tropical waves likely becoming tropical storms within the next day or two.

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Wednesday NJ weather: Lots of clouds, moderate humidity

Wednesday's forecast is just ... eh. Not a great day, but not terrible either. Humidity continues to be the theme here, both creating some uncomfortably steamy air and fueling some rain chances.

Wednesday morning begins with patches of fog around the Garden State, especially in areas where it rained late Tuesday. And where it is foggy, the fog is pretty thick, which may slow you down early on. Visibility should improve by the 9 a.m. hour, once thermometers start to rise for the day.

Temperatures will climb from the 60s in the morning to around 80 degrees in the afternoon. It will be another warm and humid September day, with barely a breeze and lots of clouds overhead. Having said that, rain chances will be limited — I expect only some spotty sprinkles and/or isolated showers in the afternoon.

Rain chances will progressively go up Wednesday night. It is going to be a muggy night, with low temperatures only dropping to around 70 degrees — not cool at all.

Thursday NJ weather: Periods of rain, high humidity

Thursday is the wettest day of the week, with some (many?) spots in New Jersey potentially picking up 1 to 2 inches of solid rainfall. Locally higher amounts are possible, as our hot, humid atmosphere is squeezed like a sponge.

Expect periods of rain for a good part of the day. At the moment, I will say the morning hours look wetter than the afternoon, although that timing is not a slam dunk call. Downpours and rumbles of thunder are possible. I would not even rule out some stronger storm cells throwing out some wind and small hail.

Thursday is going to be really humid too, as the dew point potentially surges past 70. High temperatures will "only" be in the 70s due to thick clouds and rain. Soggy, stormy, steamy, and uncomfortable.

Friday NJ weather: Drying trend

We are still looking forward to weather improvements for the end of the workweek, just in time for the final weekend of September.

Showers may linger into Friday morning, especially along New Jersey's southern coast. By lunchtime, I think dry weather will prevail. Skies will be slow to clear though, so expect mostly cloudy conditions into the afternoon.

Humidity levels will drop a little bit from Thursday's tropical levels. But I would still call it "moderate" humidity, making the air a bit sticky through the afternoon. High temperatures should bounce back to the warm side of normal Friday, to around 80 degrees.

Saturday NJ weather: Clouds and sun

On balance, the weekend looks good. Although there are a few question marks in play.

In general, I think we will see a mix of clouds and sun across the weekend. High temperatures on Saturday will reach the upper 70s or so, dipping to the mid 70s on Sunday.

The big question is whether spot showers will get in the way of a nice weekend, especially late Saturday. I am not convinced any of our forecast model guidance have resolved on a confident, accurate solution on that rain chance just yet — so we'll see how things play out.

The other big thing to watch is the tropics. Hurricane Gabrielle is still way out there throwing swell toward the Jersey Shore, causing a high risk of dangerous rip currents for the fourth day in a row.

In addition, there are a pair of tropical waves that are likely to become upgraded to tropical storms in the next day or two. They each have potential trajectories that could affect the U.S. East Coast next week.

I have to stress there are a number of potential scenarios on the table here, as those possible impacts are still 6 to 8 days away (early next week). Rough surf is likely. Rain and wind are possible. It's all a matter of how big and how strong the storms get, and how developing high pressure may (or may not) steer them out to sea. No reason to freak out, just reason to watch carefully. The next names on the list for the Atlantic basin this year are Humberto and Imelda.

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