Good afternoon again. We could be seeing some severe weather on tap around the Garden State today. On Monday night, we got a small taste of what could come when strong to severe storms rolled through during the overnight. Earlier in the evening, a twister touched down near Allentown, Pennsylvania, and a tornado warning had been issued for portions of Warren and Hunterdon counties.

We had to fight through some dense fog and low clouds this morning, but the sun emerged with some vigor as the mercury climbed to 90.9 degrees here in Northwestern Middlesex County late Tuesday morning. Dew points rose well into the 70s, and maxed out at 80 degrees this morning. So, there is plenty of light, heat, and moisture. The question is there going to be enough lifting and upper level winds to support a severe weather outbreak here in New Jersey this afternoon into this evening.

The dramatic rise in temperature today was a bit surprising. The forecasts that I had seen over the past couple days, and even earlier today was that it would get into the low 80s. The mercury has not climbed to far beyond the upper 70s this morning. Compared to last year, when we had 80 degree plus weather about 10 times by this point in the month of May, the temperatures have been below par. The National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey issued a hazardous weather outlook for this afternoon indicating the chance of severe thunderstorms with hail and gusty winds.

There is already a Severe Thunderstorm Watch in effect for southern portions of the Mid-Atlantic including Maryland, Northern Virginia, and the Delmarva Peninsula. We have a cold front that will be approaching from the west this afternoon. This was part of the storm system that caused the devastating EF4 tornado in Joplin, Missouri. The timing of this front should be the late afternoon into the early evening. So, by then, we will have had the maximum heating of the day. With the sun coming out to provide a spark, the warm moist air already in place thanks to the warm front that came through overnight, there are ingredients for severe weather.