A wind advisory has been issued for the Shore area by the National Weather Service, calling for gusty winds to move into the area Thursday night and continue through Friday morning, accompanied by rain showers. A small craft advisory and gale warning were also in effect.
According to the NWS advisory statement, strong winds are expected to move into the region by 11 p.m. Thursday night and continue through 10 a.m. Friday morning. Winds are suspected to be sustained at 25-30 m.p.h. with gusts eclipsing 50 m.p.h. As a silver lining, New Jersey is not expected to receive even higher winds that are forecast for Long Island and areas to its north as a storm system moves by offshore.
“Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects,” the NWS advisory statement said. “Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.”
Offshore, seas are expected to run very heavily. A small craft advisory is currently in effect, which will scale up to a gale warning Thursday night into Friday. Winds will gust to 45 knots and seas will gradually increase to 4-6 feet during the day Thursday before progressing to 7-12 feet Thursday night and Friday.
Thursday, otherwise, is expected to be mostly cloudy with a high reaching a mild 58 degrees on the mainland and 56 degrees on the island. Showers will move in Thursday night and there is a chance of a thunderstorm after 1 a.m. Friday morning. About a quarter-inch to a half-inch of rain could fall. Rain and showers are forecast to continue through Friday morning, however skies are expected to gradually clear during the day. Wind gusts will continue to reach the 40 m.p.h. mark during the day.
