Monday will easily be NJ’s nicest weather day of the week

Hello and Happy Monday! I am very pleased with how the weekend's forecast played out. Not only was it sunny and warm and dry, but my confident prediction of "spectacular summer weather" played out nicely too. Good news all around.

Let's keep the pleasant weather going for Monday, which promises to be New Jersey's nicest day of the week. You probably didn't even notice, but a weak cold front swept through New Jersey late on Sunday. That means we'll be a few degrees cooler and (more importantly) much less humid for Monday. Thermometers will read mainly in the 60s in the morning, with highs in the mid 80s Monday afternoon — that's exactly what we expect for mid-July. It will be dry and quiet all day Monday, and Monday night too.

Humidity will be on the rise again Tuesday, as temperatures bounce into the upper 80s to around 90 degrees. Definitely more sticky, but not altogether unpleasant. Upper 60s in the morning, near 90 in the afternoon. We'll see partly sunny skies.

A few showers and thunderstorms may creep into New Jersey from the west Tuesday evening. I get the sense that it's not going to be a huge deal, and the rain will probably fizzle before reaching the coast. (If showers even reach the Garden State at all.) The post-dusk timing will limit the strength of these storms as well.

Wednesday will be downright hot, as high temperatures climb into the lower 90s across inland New Jersey. Clouds will win the sky. In addition, as the remnants of Barry swing eastward, a round of late-thunderstorms will be likely. Given the high humidity and tropical moisture connection, there could be some pockets of heavy rain into Wednesday night.

Because of lingering clouds and showers, Thursday will be somewhat cooler. But don't expect any sort of chill in the air — high temps are still forecast to push well into the 80s.

And then bigtime heat and humidity builds into New Jersey for the end of the week. The hottest air of the season so far arrives in New Jersey on Friday, and it looks to stick around for next weekend. If this forecast holds, everywhere in New Jersey will hit 90+ degrees for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and possibly Monday too. Triple-digit temperatures are possible. And when you factor in the humidity, the heat index ("feels like" temperature) will easily top 100 degrees anyway.

So we're probably facing our first bout of oppressive, extreme, dangerous, potentially record-breaking heat this week. Yuck. Happy July, everyone!

Dan Zarrow is Chief Meteorologist for Townsquare Media New Jersey. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter for the latest forecast and realtime weather updates.