Quiet, chilly weather to start the big holiday week in NJ

Although Monday will remain quite cold, the forecast for the Garden State features a slow warmup and only minimal rain/snow chances.

Here are your weather headlines for Monday, December 19, 2016...

Back to the Cold

What a weekend, huh? We went from extreme cold with snow/ice on Saturday morning to mid 60s, humidity, and rain on Sunday.

Behind Sunday's rain came a cold front, which has returned New Jersey to the cool side of the jet stream. The entire state fell below freezing Monday morning. With a stiff breeze up to 20 mph, an occasional biting wind chill will persist through mid-morning. It may still be autumn by the calendar, but Mother Nature says bundle up!

Even as skies clear to partly sunny or mostly sunny by Monday afternoon, temperatures will remain chilly. Forecast highs are only in the lower to mid 30s.

And this chilly Monday will be followed by another cold night. Under clear skies, lows will dip to the lower teens to lower 20s through most of the state. At least winds will be light overnight.

Staying Quiet

A slow warming trend will kick in Tuesday, as high temperatures climb into the upper 30s to lower 40s. That's still a hair below normal for mid-to-late December. Skies will be mostly sunny.

Wednesday is the first day of winter, and we'll be back to seasonable temperature levels, in the mid 40s. Of course, I'm not going to call it warm or even mild, as you'll still need a jacket all day.

Two Precip Chances

As the Christmas and Hanukkah holiday weekend approaches, we'll be watching two chances of precipitation that could impact travel, shopping, and outdoor activities.

The first storm system will affect New Jersey on Thursday. In previous model runs, this system looked impressive, with the potential for travel-impeding heavy rain. But now, it's just showers. Depending on timing and temperatures, those showers could be a mix of rain and snow. But precipitation totals will remain light, and this one should not get in your way at all.

The following storm system will approach New Jersey late on Christmas Day. Don't start dreaming of a White Christmas just yet, though - this system will carry an influx of warm air, pushing Christmas Day high temperatures to near 50 degrees. That means this system will bring us just rain, of light to moderate intensity, from Sunday late afternoon through early Monday.

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