The Bottom Line

Happy first day of October! We kick off the new month with a beautiful weather day — full of sunshine, dry air, and seasonable temperatures. However, rain moves in Thursday night. And then a reinforcing shot of cool air will knock back temperatures even more for the first weekend of October.

Thursday

50s in the morning, 70 to 75 in the afternoon. Sunny skies, low humidity, dry weather, and just a light breeze. What more could you ask for? The daytime hours Thursday look great.

A moderate risk of rip currents continues for the Jersey Shore, with 3 to 4 foot ocean waves.

Thursday night, we'll be watching the western sky for clouds and rain showers to return.

Friday

New Jersey's wettest period of weather will actually be Friday morning — so be prepared to use the umbrella and windshield wipers for the morning commute. Nothing heavy, nothing severe. Just scattered light rain. Just wet.

Rain should exit the Garden State by midday, with sunshine breaking out by late Friday afternoon. Temperatures won't go very far though, with highs only in the lower 60s. That is about 10 degrees below normal for early October.

Saturday

Temps will remain below seasonal norms for the weekend too. Having said that, Saturday looks like a delightful fall day. Mostly sunny skies and highs in the upper 60s.

Sunday

Clouds will increase on Sunday, but the daytime hours look fine. The combination of cloud cover and a light on-shore breeze will limit temperatures to the mid 60s in the afternoon.

Our next storm system is forecast to arrive late Sunday night, through early Monday morning. Once again, nothing overly dramatic, just a dose of wet weather.

Monday & Beyond

After showers wrap up Monday morning, we'll then continue our streak of generally pleasant and cool weather. I'm seeing mid 60s and partly sunny skies for Monday afternoon.

A shift to southerly and southwesterly winds by midweek next week will fuel a warmup back to the 70s, for Tuesday and Wednesday at least. Current guidance suggests Wednesday will become breezy and wet late-day.

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

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM