WALL TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Everyone across central New Jersey is facing frigid conditions to start the week, with temperatures plunging into the single digits overnight and daytime highs struggling to break the freezing mark before a modest warm-up arrives midweek.
At Monmouth Executive Airport in Wall Township, temperatures early Monday morning hovered around 19 degrees under clear skies, with winds out of the west at 7 mph making it feel closer to 10 degrees. The National Weather Service forecast calls for a sunny Martin Luther King Jr. Day, reaching a high near 36 degrees before dropping sharply to 14 overnight.
Tuesday will bring even colder air, with highs near 23 and wind gusts up to 25 mph, followed by a bitter low of 8 degrees Tuesday night. The region will see slightly milder conditions Wednesday, climbing to around 36 degrees under mostly sunny skies as winds shift from the southwest.
Cloud cover returns Wednesday night with a low of 27, setting the stage for the week’s warmest day Thursday, when temperatures could rise to about 43 under mostly sunny skies. Another cold front will move in Thursday night, bringing temperatures back down to 20 degrees by early Friday.
The weekend outlook calls for renewed arctic air, with highs near 31 on Friday and dropping to the low teens overnight. Saturday is expected to remain mostly sunny but cold, reaching only about 21 degrees, with temperatures plunging to around 6 overnight. By Sunday, forecasters see a 30 percent chance of snow as highs remain near 20 degrees.
New Jersey braces for a bitterly cold week with lows in the single digits before a short-lived midweek thaw and possible weekend snow.