Strong To Severe Storms Possible On Friday

Cold Front To Push Through Region As Heat And Humidity Rise

Hope you enjoyed the nice day on Thursday because the Garden State as well as the rest of the NYC Metropolitan area will have a bit of a change on Friday. Temperatures and dew points will be on the rise this morning into the afternoon. Newark is forecast to reach a high of 93 degrees while nearby in Somerville, the mercury is expected to climb to the low 90s as well. Humidity will be on the increase as a more southwesterly flow will develop ahead of an approaching cold front.

Currently in South Plainfield, skies are sunny, but there is a bit of a haze. Temperature is already at 80 degrees after only reaching a high of 84.5 on Thursday. The humidity is at 72 percent for a dew point of 71 and a heat index of 84. Yesterday, the dew point fell to 59 degrees while the heat index only peaked to 87. The cold front that is our next weather maker is currently in Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. This front has had a history of producing strong storms in the Midwest and Ohio Valley. Reports of two inch diameter hail in Illinois, and a total of 145 wind reports out of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Missouri. There were 186 storm reports in all from that part of the country.

In anticipation of the clash between the increasingly warm and humid air over us with the approaching cold front, the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for strong thunderstorms developing this afternoon. The area forecast discussion indicates that there could be some mid-level cloudiness that could keep down the heating of the day, and prevent a severe weather outbreak this afternoon. Dew points are still in the mid to upper 60s as far south as South Carolina, so the low level moisture and instability may not be there for severe storms to develop either. Nevertheless, be prepared for strong to severe storms later today into tonight.

With the expected rain today in South Plainfield, there will be nine days of some sort of rainfall in town already this month. Since July 16th, there will have been 18 days of measurable rain. In that time, around seven inches of rain has fallen. About half of that has occurred in August alone with the two heaviest daily rainfall totals coming on August 10th (1.53 inches) and August 15th (0.90 inches). There have been at least 10 days of severe weather since June 22nd in New Jersey. August 2012 is already the wettest month of the year so far after July finished strong to actually record more rainfall (2.86 inches) than July of last year (2.80 inches).

Despite having two significant dry spells this year from March to late April and from mid-June to mid-July, Northwestern Middlesex County has received 19.46 inches of rain to date this year. So, we could go over 20 inches of rain for the year if a strong to severe storm passes through today with a good downpour.