Unsettled Weather Pattern Greets Start of the 2024 Season
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ – The start of the high school football season usually brings a plethora of leg cramps during the early games due to the heat and humidity from the fading summer. The beginning of the 2024 campaign has been a bit different though. An unsettled weather pattern greets the start of the 2024 season. Clouds and an easterly flow have kept temperatures down, but there is still a good deal of humidity to deal with.
It has been a hot and muggy summer. There have been worse summers in terms of temperatures in Central Jersey, but this summer has been quite uncomfortable at times. The last time the Garden State had a 100-degree day was back in 2011. The highest temperature to date this summer has been 97 degrees in South Plainfield. However, there have been four heat waves in 2024. With Wednesday’s high of 91 degrees, Greg’s Weather Center in South Plainfield, New Jersey has had 24 days of 90-degree-plus weather. In addition, there have been 85 days of 80-degree-plus weather at GWC since April 14th.
Wednesday’s last flirtation with 90-degree weather also brought in severe weather. During the afternoon and evening on Wednesday, a frontal boundary tried to push in from the west. The result was a cluster of severe thunderstorms that moved into Northwestern Jersey from Eastern Pennsylvania and gradually became better organized as they pushed into the heat and humidity in place. Frequent flashes and bolts of vivid lightning were produced from the energy contained in these storms.
South Plainfield was spared the worst of the weather. On the periphery of the severe storms, GWC only received 0.09 of an inch of rain. It was good enough to make the rainfall total for August 2024 (5.82 inches) higher than it was in August 2023 (5.67 inches). Before that, there had not been any measurable rain in Northwestern Middlesex County for nearly two weeks after a very stormy start to the month. In the wake of Wednesday’s storms was a stalled-out frontal boundary.
The stalled frontal system has resulted in grey overcast skies for the most part. There have been moments where the sun and some blue sky managed to push through, but not for long. Consequently, temperatures have been held down in the 70s. On Thursday, the thermometer only reached a high of 78 after a morning low of 68. On Friday, conditions were even cooler with a high of just 70 after a morning low of 62 at GWC. Conditions are not only unsettled so far on Saturday but also unstable.
There is a bit more heat and humidity. The clouds had a bit more of an ominous look to them during the noon hour. The sun did manage to come out for a bit, which only increased the instability. Currently, the temperature at GWC is down a bit to 76 after a high of 77 earlier on Saturday afternoon. The morning low was 66. The average diurnal temperature range (difference between the high and the low) was just 9.7 degrees over the past three days.
According to the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey, the temperature could reach 80 degrees late this afternoon under a mixture of sun and clouds. There is a storm system trying to push in from the west. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma indicates the interior Mid-Atlantic of Central and Western Pennsylvania, all of West Virginia, Northwestern Virginia, and Southeastern Ohio is under a slight risk for severe weather on Saturday.
The severe weather threat shifts a bit more to the east on Sunday with a marginal risk for severe weather from the Carolinas up into Southern New England. There is still a chance for isolated showers and storms for several of the games being played on Saturday, but much of the widely scattered rainfall should hold off until Sunday morning.
