Forecast Partly Cloudy Skies and Temps Around 50 for Saturday’s Big Game at Rutgers
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ—We are reaching the end of the 2021 New Jersey High School Football season this weekend with the last of the NJSIAA Regional Championships at Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium. The weather around Central Jersey just underwent some changes in the past 24 hours as two Alberta clipper systems pushed through the region.
The first one came through during the morning and brought some rain, but the second, which came through during the evening was stronger. The second clipper, which pushed through between 7:00 and 8:00 PM on Thursday night, generated Special Weather Statements for many portions of New Jersey starting from the Northwestern portion of the state down into Central Jersey.
Some areas saw gusty winds in excess of 40 mph with pea size hail. However, the most important thing that these clipper systems brought in were chillier temperatures. After having temperatures as high as 59 in New Brunswick on Thursday afternoon, the thermometer dropped to 32 for lows on Friday morning. Temperatures earlier in the week had been as low as 41 in New Brunswick.
With daytime heating, the high temperature managed to reach 50 degrees in New Brunswick on Friday afternoon. According to WeatherNation, the high temperature forecast for South Plainfield on Friday was only expected to be 46 degrees. The forecast high for Saturday is expected to moderate a bit to 48 in South Plainfield under partly cloudy skies.
The National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey is forecasting decreasing clouds on Saturday afternoon with a high of 49 at Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium. At the time of kickoff in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 5 Regional Championship between Hillsborough and Kingsway, the temperature is expected to be about 47 degrees with light winds from the southwest at 5 mph with very little in the way of precipitation expected.
There has been quite a bit of chatter about the possibility of snow over the next week, particularly Tuesday into Wednesday. There is a chance of snow by Tuesday night, but rain is expected on Sunday night into Monday. Obviously though, this will not have any impact on tomorrow’s games. Greg’s Weather Center has been happy to bring these weather reports to you this season.
Weather is an important part of playing these games. Although many schools have turf field, which takes away some of the impact from rain, conditions like those we saw on October 29th at DeMarco Stadium in Old Bridge when the Knights hosted Sayreville, are the kind of conditions players, coaches, and fans can expect during the course of any given season.
