Good evening everyone. Well, it was another great day weather wise here in Northwestern Middlesex County. As predicted earlier in the week by the National Weather Service, and the Weather Channel, temperatures crossed over the 70 degree barrier, and were even a bit higher than originally expected. Looking at Wednesday’s data from the GWC Weather Station here in South Plainfield, the mercury climbed to nearly 78 degrees (actually 77.7) for a high at 2:40 PM while the low of 45.4 occurred at 6:20 AM. It marked the sixth time in just the past two weeks that the thermometer recorded a high temperature of at least 73 degrees.

Wednesday was also the 11th straight day of no measurable rainfall in the area. The month of April had started out very wet with at least one hundredth of an inch of rain in 9 of the first 12 days for a total of 1.45 inches. Furthermore, for the past seven days, the mean temperature has been at least 54.5 degrees. The combination of the lack of rain and increasing temperatures may be an indication that Spring is finally here to stay. At least I hope so. However, you never know about the weather this time of year. All it takes is a back door cold front, or a pesky system like the one that has hovered over the Mid-Atlantic for the past several days to turn the weather on its head, and bring back the raw and rainy conditions that characterized the early portion of the month.

Looking at the latest forecast outlook courtesy of the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey, the dry spell we’ve been having is projected to come to an end. However, not before there is some more great weather. Both Thursday and Friday are expected to be carbon copies of the weather on Wednesday with sunny skies and highs reaching up into the mid to upper 70s, and lows falling between the mid 40s to low 50s. Clouds are expected to move into the area on Wednesday night keeping the low from falling into the 40s while Thursday night is expected to be clear with winds becoming calm. Consequently, there could be some radiational cooling into early Friday morning.

Showers and thunderstorms are expected to then factor into the prognostication with a 30 percent chance of showers on Friday night followed by a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms on Saturday, and a 50 percent chance on Saturday night. A 30 to 40 percent chance of showers is then expected for Sunday through Sunday night.