On Friday, the sun returned to the Central Jersey area after seven straight days of measurable rainfall. Over the previous seven days from May 15th to May 22nd, there was a total of 2.08 inches of rain, which accounts for approximately 55 percent of the total rainfall for this May. The recent rains have also catapulted the month to be the second highest so far this year in terms of monthly rainfall behind February, which had 4.61 inches. The recent forecast from the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey called for the sun to remain over the region for the next several days going into early next week after the Memorial Day holiday with the next chance of rain on Tuesday.

So far this month, the mercury has not climbed up into the 80s yet. The highest temperature recorded in May in South Plainfield was 78.1, and that was on the 6th. The conditions have been so cool that we’ve yet to record a single cooling degree day. The mean temperature for the month has been 56.6 degrees with the mean max reaching 66.5 degrees, and the mean min bottoming out at 46.7. As a matter of fact, the lowest minimum temperature for the month occurred on the very first day at 33.4 degrees. Knowing all of this data, you can see why we’ve yet to have any serious severe weather in the form of thunderstorms. By this time last year, there were already a couple of thunderstorm outbreaks in the area. Most notably, severe thunderstorms on May 16th, and May 20th. You can check out the video footage of these events in the YouTube and Weather Channel video sections.

This holiday weekend, conditions will become more typical of this time of year as the thermometer is expected to climb into the 80s for the first time since April 18th when the mercury rose to 84.4 degrees. On Monday, the high is forecast to be around 83 degrees so it is quite possible we could enjoy the warmest day of the year to date. Tuesday will be slightly cooler at 81 as clouds embedded with thunderstorms will develop during the afternoon and evening hours as a frontal system moves into the region. On Wednesday, temperatures will cool to about the upper 60s to low 70s.