There is a potential for strong to severe thunderstorms today, especially for areas south and west of the city today. Stormy weather gives way to calmer, cooler conditions Wednesday before another round of rain moves in late Thursday. Cooler temperatures prevail in the short to medium term.

Rest of today – the Storm Prediction Center has placed portions of the region under a marginal to slight risk of severe weather today. These areas are largely confined to those south and west of the city. A frontal boundary is draped from west to east across the area, such that portions to the east will be in colder air north of the frontal boundary, while those areas to the west will be in a warmer area south of it. Any strong to severe thunderstorms will be confined to areas that see the warmest temperatures today, where the spread in high temperatures could be over 25ºF from eastern Long Island to Central New Jersey.

In the city, expect high temperatures in the upper-60s to low-70s with a potential for thunderstorms, some possibly with damaging winds and small hail. These storms will be coming in two rounds, one around 11AM this morning (radar returns are already showing this batch of weaker showers), and the second, stronger batch coming around 3PM. 

Wednesday – temperatures cool off considerably in the wake of these storms. High temperatures will be around 60ºF tomorrow with sunny skies.

Thursday – another cool day with high temperatures in the upper-50s and increasing clouds along with an increasing chance of rain during the day into the overnight hours.

Friday – high temperatures in the upper-50s to around 60ºF with partly sunny skies.

Below Normal Temperature Trend to Continue – Rain Needed

An upcoming series of storm systems moving over the region will lead to colder air being pulled in behind them. This will result in below normal temperatures for this time of year throughout much of the next two weeks.

Due to a long stretch of dry weather, many portions of the NYC region have fallen behind normal precipitation levels for this period of the year by considerable margins. Hopefully, the rounds of rain we are forecast to receive coming up will help to prevent drought conditions from redeveloping in the area before this growing season starts in earnest.