Good evening everyone. Well, I stayed a bit later at work on Wednesday. I had some mandatory courses and exams to take as a part of the company policy. Nevertheless, there wasn’t anything noteworthy as far as severe or inclement weather was concerned on Wednesday. As a matter of fact, it was quite a nice day for the hump day. The sun came out for the first time since Friday. After a freeze warning was issued for some parts of New Jersey as the skies that had cleared out during the afternoon on Tuesday had provided the environment for radiational cooling.

Consequently, the mercury read 36 degrees at about 6:00 AM EDT this morning in South Plainfield. The actual low temperature for the day here in Northwestern Middlesex County was a bit lower at 35.5 degrees, which occurred at 6:50 AM EDT. According to the latest data from the GWC WX station, there was no measurable rainfall during the overnight. So April went out much like March should, like a lamb. Looking at the forecast courtesy of the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey, the rain is expected to come back at some point over the next four days.

The high temperature on Wednesday reached 58.1 degrees at 4:00 PM EDT. The mean temperature for the day was 46.8 degrees, and that was only the second time since April 17th that the mean temperature was below 51 degrees. For the day, there was no measurable rainfall at all, and that occurrence was for the first time in five days. For the month, there was a total of 2.93 inches of rainfall (unless there is something that occurs before midnight). Looking at the statistics for the year, the mean temperature for the entire month of April was 53.4 degrees with the mean max being 63.4 degrees while the mean max was 43.3, which made the average diurnal range for the month, 20.1 degrees.

Starting Thursday, and continuing through the weekend, chances for showers or rain ranges from 30 to 60 percent with the greatest chance expected on Thursday and Thursday night as well as Sunday and Sunday night. High temperatures are projected to fall between 62 and 66 degrees so the mercury will moderate somewhat from earlier in the week. Lows will range from the upper 40s to the low 50s. The lows are anticipated to be warmer than it was overnight on Wednesday since there will be clouds during the evening, which will prevent any infrared radiation from the ground to escape into the atmosphere.

According to the latest forecast summary for the Northeast from The Weather Channel, the foul weather that is to come on Thursday is the result from an approaching warm front. Showers and even some isolated thunderstorms are expected to develop to the north of and along that warm front New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and portions of Virginia. This weather is just the tip of the iceberg as TWC indicated the presence of another storm system that is gaining strength and organization over the Great Plains and Midwest. Consequently, the low is expected to bring a variety of weather from snow to severe thunderstorms in the nation’s heartland before moving eastward in our direction.