Good afternoon again. I’ve been listening to my NOAA weather radio during the morning, and checking the National Weather Service forecast office in Mount Holly’s web site, and found that there is a Severe Thunderstorm Watch out for much of New Jersey for this afternoon and evening until 8:00 PM. Seventeen of the 21 counties in the Garden State are under this watch including: Middlesex, Monmouth, Somerset, and Union counties.

Skies have been bubbling up with moisture all week with strong thunderstorms passing through the region on Tuesday night. You will see in my latest YouTube video, that there have been plenty of cumulus clouds developing with the head of the day. However, today, the skies have become more overcast as a cold front approaches into the very moist and humid air mass over us from the west. The front will be the combine with the heat and instability to trigger strong to severe thunderstorms. Some of these storms could produce heavy rains, gusty winds, and frequent lightning.

The storms could produce even more severe weather on Saturday with showers and thunderstorms resulting in torrential rains and localized flooding. One positive from the arrival of this particular front is the fact that it will serve as a protective barrier for the East Coast of the United States as Bill approaches from the South and East. Hurricane Bill, a Category Three Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale with winds of 115 miles per hour is expected to move between Bermuda and the U.S. East Coast on Saturday before it heads into extreme Eastern New England and the Canadian Maritimes.