The Garden State's stretch of wet, dreary weather is over as skies clear to sunshine by Thursday afternoon, with gusty winds expected as well.

Here are your weather headlines for Thursday, December 3, 2015...

A Brighter Forecast

I am pleased to report that the fog, mist, drizzle, and steady rain of the past two days are gone and we have much drier, more pleasant weather ahead.

Having said that, there are still some clouds in the sky and sprinkles on the radar this morning. As one last batch of rain pushes across Pennsylvania this morning, we could still see a few light showers. After noon at the latest, our rain chances drop to near-zero, and we will end up with some solid sunshine and blue skies this afternoon.

A cold front is our savior here, pushing out the rain and clouds. Of course, this new, cooler air mass will cause a drop in temperatures to near-seasonable levels today in New Jersey - this afternoon's high temperatures are expected to rise into the lower 50s. (Yesterday, parts of South Jersey made it to 60 degrees.) As that cooler air arrives, a gusty west-northwest wind is expected today... Sustained winds may be as high as 25 mph, with gusts to 35 mph. Be sure your Christmas decorations are secure before you leave for work this morning!

Pleasant Early December Weather

The wind will die down on Thursday night, and we'll be left with some pleasant, typical December weather.

Thursday night will be much cooler than the past few nights, with lows mostly in the mid 30s. The coolest parts of New Jersey will likely fall just below the freezing mark.

Sunny skies, light winds, and seasonable temperatures will contribute to a nice Friday and Saturday. Highs will end up on either side of 50 degrees.

While cloud cover will increase slightly by Sunday afternoon, we will still close out the weekend on a pleasant note. Highs will bump a little higher, into the mid 50s.

Next Rain Chance?

Our next significant weather maker could be a coastal storm system, that is expected to slide up the Atlantic seaboard around Tuesday of next week. It's usually very important to keep a close eye on coastal storms during the cold season. With plentiful moisture, the threat of coastal erosion, and the potential to pull down cold air from the north, some of our worst winter weather comes from coastal storm systems (i.e. "nor'easters").

However, that will NOT be the case here. First, temperatures early next week will be too warm to support snow or any wintry weather, so this would be a rain-maker at best. Furthermore, while the GFS paints a very wet picture for the Jersey Shore with several inches of rain possible, the Euro model keeps the system completely out to sea. It's typical to see such differences with 5 days to go... As always, we'll keep an eye on it and update you on-air and online with the latest outlook.

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

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