Unsettled autumn weather this weekend

It has been a busy week.Strong thunderstorms which produced damaging winds in New England, a blood red moon and lunar eclipse, and noticeable temperature swings have all made news over the past several days But, finally,some tranquil weather settled into the area on Wednesday and Thursday when highs reached the 70’s and sun was plentiful. The weekend, unfortunately, won’t follow the same path. An approaching disturbance is likely to bring unsettled weather to the area from later tonight through Saturday.

High clouds from the associated system have already filtered into the area this afternoon, in response to the first disturbance moving through the Ohio Valley. This lead disturbance will bring continued cloudiness, as well as a chance of showers to the Mid-Atlantic and southern portions of our area…including Southern New Jersey. This lead disturbance will remain relatively weak and slide offshore, so we aren’t expecting a washout by any means on Friday.

The second disturbance, and the more organized of the two, will move through the area from Friday into Saturday. Increased lift for precipitation will bring rain to the area from Friday Night through the early morning hours of Saturday at a steady clip. A developing low pressure system near the Mid-Atlantic states will shift off the coast Saturday morning, allowing showery weather to continue until the mid-morning hours. Clouds will eventually break on Saturday, but north winds will keep things quite cool and autumnal.

NAM model forecasting lows in the 30’s across the interior on Sunday morning.

Most notable will be the temperature drop on Saturday night. With clear skies and north winds, as well as mid level temperatures down to 3-6 C,temperatures should fall into the 30’s across the interior and 40’s in the city and near the coast. This likely will be the coldest night of the season thus far. Sunday? Much of the same, with highs in the upper 50’s to near 60 — plenty of sunshine, but very cool.

Overall, not a terrible weekend is expected. But it certainly won’t be off to a pleasant start, with unsettled weather on both Friday and the first half of Saturday. Sunday should salvage the weekend as a classic Autumn day.