Good morning, or almost good afternoon. We are in the final stages of this powerful storm that has gripped the East Coast for the past several days. Moisture from a stalled cold front, remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole, and additional moisture from the tropics combined with an upper level low over Kentucky and Tennessee to produce a significant coastal storm that brought tremendous rain to much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

Wilmington, North Carolina broke records for three, four, and five day rainfall totals, and had the second wettest September on record thanks to this storm. Gaithersburg, Maryland had the second highest single day rainfall total since Tropical Storm David back in September 1979. Here in South Plainfield, we have had a two day rainfall total of 3.15 inches as of 11:08 AM this morning. Another 1.5 inches of rain fell overnight into the early morning with the bulk of that precipitation (1.29 inches) falling between 3:00 AM and 6:15 AM. The heaviest rain fell between 4:10 and 4:15 AM with 0.16 inches.

Considering everything that has happened, things could have been much worse. On Thursday, much of the precipitation that fell occurred to the west of the Garden State. Much of Pennsylvania was hit hard as well as Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. As the system shifted to the east though, rain began falling in earnest over New Jersey again. A strong thunderstorm rolled through the area after 4:00 AM EDT. Winds reached 12 to 13 miles per hour in gusts. Keep in mind that my weather station is not in an open area, and doesn’t usually get the full force of the wind. Other areas that have received rain in the past 24 hours:

• Basking Ridge, NJ 3.0 inches
• Trenton, NJ 0.7 inches
• Newark Airport 2.0 inches
• New Brunswick, NJ 1.9 inches
• Atlantic City, NJ 0.33 inches
• Hawthorne, NJ 2.1 inches
• High Point, NJ 3.95 inches
• Hillsborough, NJ 2.45 inches
• Holmdel, NJ 1.52 inches
• Howell, NJ 1.50 inches

There still could be some lingering showers around the Garden State today, but the barometer is on the rise, and the rain is moving out along with this storm. The next big weather news for our area will be the cooler and drier air that moves in. This weekend, we’ll see the lowest temperatures so far this season.