Rains Will Hopefully Ease the Drought Concerns in the Garden State

After a roller coaster ride of weather over the first two weeks of April that consisted of dramatic swings in temperature, and a variety of conditions from thunderstorms to high winds to snow, the Central Jersey area as well as the rest of the Garden State has enjoyed a good stretch of whether over the last half of April. There have been some hiccups along the way, but overall we’ve had it good.

Almost too good too. So far this April, the weather station at Greg’s Weather Center has also received a total of 0.86 inches of rain. For the year, there has only been about 9.65 inches of precipitation. Much of that occurred during the Blizzard of 2016 over the weekend of January 23rd. New Jersey is not alone either. Much of the Mid-Atlantic has been dry, and is in need of a good soaking rain.

Mother Nature is about to oblige. A storm system in the Midwest is heading east, and will begin to affect Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland late Saturday night. New Jersey and the New York City metro area will begin to see the rain on Sunday morning. The National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey indicates a 20 percent chance of precipitation on Saturday night going up to a 90 percent chance on Sunday, and a chance of lingering showers on Monday.

This storm system has had a history of producing some rough weather in the Plains, which has been pummeled by all kinds of severe weather this month. Oklahoma is cleaning up from tornadoes that passed through the area on Friday while Texas had its fair share of severe storms producing vivid lightning and lots of hail. While conditions have been mostly tranquil in the Garden State, they did get a bit interesting on Tuesday afternoon.

With a cold front diving into some relatively warm and humid air for this time of year, thunderstorms developed from Northeastern Pennsylvania and Southeastern New York down to Maryland and Delaware. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 9:00 PM. These storms eventually moved southward and eastward into the Garden State causing the NWS office in Mount Holly to issue alerts and Special Weather Statements.

The heaviest weather came through Northern New Jersey, and moved across NYC and Long Island by 5:00 PM. Another strong storm came out of the Trenton and Hamilton area in Mercer County and moved eastward across Southern Middlesex, Monmouth, and Northern Burlington and Ocean County. More clusters of storms blazed a trail across Southern Jersey to near Atlantic City and Long Beach Island. Fortunately, GWC and much of Middlesex County was spared of these storms.

The close call is a harbinger of things to come as we move into the Severe Weather Season in New Jersey. Expect the conditions for severe weather to ramp up through the month of May and into June and July as the weather keeps getting warmer. However, this storm system and a potential nor’easter that the long range models are hinting at for late next week are reminders that it is still early Spring, and weather conditions will still tend to fluctuate back towards winter.