Stormy Week Giving Way to Heat
Thursday Morning’s Rainfall Puts May Total Above 4 Inches
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ—After a pleasant two days of weather, the active pattern resumed on Thursday morning. Overnight downpours at Greg’s Weather Center produced another inch of rain. The latest rain has raised the total for the month of May to just over four inches. The storm was the third storm in less than two weeks at GWC.
As forecasted, a storm system began to move in from the south and west during the evening on Wednesday. Rain began falling after midnight, but the heaviest rain occurred between about 2:30 and 5:00 AM. Peak rainfall rate at GWC was 1.02 inches per hour at 4:06 AM Thursday morning. Rain lingered into the early morning rush hour, and clouds stayed around until the mid to late afternoon.
With Thursday morning’s downpour, the rainfall total at Greg’s Weather Center stands at 4.03 inches for the month of May 2022. There is still a little less than two weeks remaining in the month, and at least another round of storms is forecast. The hot and humid weather expected for Saturday and Sunday is anticipated to break sometime late Sunday into Monday with another severe weather threat.
Earlier this month, the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast got pummeled by a late season nor’easter, which not only brought coastal flooding and beach erosion, but also a good deal of rain. Here at GWC, the coastal low brought a total of 1.93 inches from May 6th to May 8th. Another instance of heavy rain resulted in a max rainfall rate of 7.29 inches per hour this month.
The overall climate pattern still indicates that we are still in the midst of a La Niña global weather pattern. What that means for residents in Middlesex County, Central Jersey, and the rest of the Garden State is above average rainfall. Recent La Niña years have included 2011 and last year, which had significant rain during the summer months. Rainfall mostly resulted from torrential rainfall from tropical storms.
As briefly mentioned earlier, a summer like pattern is about to move in for the weekend here in New Jersey. According to the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly, temperatures will start to climb on Friday with the mercury expected to top out in the low to mid 80s. Then, things really heat up for Saturday with a high forecast to reach into the upper 90s with heat index values over 100.
After an expected overnight low of 72 on Sunday at GWC, the thermometer is projected to climb back up into the lower 90s before thunderstorms threaten on Sunday afternoon. The warmest temperature so far this year has been 86 degrees on April 14th. So while there hasn’t been much of a spring at GWC, this weekend will provide a glimpse into summer.
Currently, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, is giving a 15 percent chance for severe weather across the interior Northeast and Southern New England on Sunday. However, you can expect the outlook to change toward a higher risk for severe weather in the Garden State and Mid-Atlantic as we get closer to Sunday afternoon.