Mercury Declines After Reaching Highest Temperature This Month

As predicted, temperatures began to cool off during the afternoon as a weak cold front began to push through the Central Jersey area.  The late spring early summer like warmth that has dominated our weather for the past five days or so, came to a halt.  The sudden change in temperature was just a harbinger of things  to come as rain is expected to move in late Saturday, and linger through Sunday.

The passage of the front began just as thermometers around the region were headed toward a record.  The high temperature in Northwestern Middlesex County reached 77.4 degrees, which is now the warmest temperature so far this month, and that will likely remain the case as we move into April.  Within about an hour, the mercury dropped to 70 degrees.  By 3:00 PM, the temperature fell to 66 degrees, and by 4:30 PM, the temperature was down to 63.

By 5:30 PM, the temperature was down to 62, and now the thermometer here at the GWC Weather Station in South Plainfield reads 61 degrees.  So, in less than six hours, the temperature has dropped over 16 degrees.  The temperature in my room climbed to 85 degrees, but now has dropped off slightly to 84 degrees as of this report.  Barometric pressure is currently at 30.03 inches and it is rising.  Winds have picked up with the 10 minute average reaching 4 miles per hour with gusts up to 13 miles per hour, the highest in the past seven days.

The dew point reached 60.5 degrees as it was not as humid as it was on Thursday.  However, the heat index still nearly matched the high for the month at 79.0 degrees.   The high temperature in Central Park reached 76 degrees, which tied a mark that went back to 1923.   Back in Jersey, high temperatures topped out at 77 degrees in both Newark and Morristown.  Somerville climbed to a high of 79 degrees while Trenton climbed to 80 degrees.  Belmar topped out at 72 degrees just after noon time before cooling off while Reading and Philadelphia climbed to 80 degrees.

The weather will be turning more seasonable over the next several days with some rain on Saturday and Sunday and windy conditions to start the week on Monday.  Temperatures will drop to the low 50s by Tuesday.