The Garden State's best chance for rain over the next week will be Saturday afternoon through early Sunday morning.

Friday Weather Headlines 20171117
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It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is now just 6 days away (and counting). The lead-up to the holiday looks cool, with at least half of those days featuring below normal temperatures.

Friday will be a return to sunny, dry weather to New Jersey, along with below normal temps. Thermometers hovering in the 30s and 40s in the morning will only rise to about 50 degrees by Friday afternoon. In addition, the brisk wind continues, gusting over 25 mph at times. That will keep the cool air moving around, necessitating a jacket all day.

By Friday evening, winds will calm significantly as clouds begin to increase again. Overnight lows will fall into the chilly 30s across most of the state.

The weekend will start out OK — skies will become mostly cloudy by late morning Saturday, with temperatures at-or-just-above normal in the mid to upper 50s. By Saturday afternoon, showers will arrive from the west. While there will be breaks in the rainfall action through Saturday night, it's going to be a pretty wet period of weather.

One more push of steady rain is expected early Sunday morning, between about Midnight and 7 a.m. Total rainfall between Saturday and Sunday will probably end up between a quarter-inch and a half-inch for most of New Jersey.

Sunday's weather will then rapidly turn downhill, as a cold front kicks up a brisk northwesterly wind and ushers in a renewed chill. Temperatures will fall throughout the day, from the mid 50s in morning, through the 40s by Sunday afternoon. Skies will clear to sunshine as this cooler, drier air arrives.

Again, the lead-up to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend will be dry but cool. Monday looks cold and blustery too, with highs only in the mid 40s and a continued brisk wind. A wind shift looks to warm temperatures somewhat on Tuesday, into the mid 50s at least. But a reinforcing shot of cold air arrives on Wednesday, pushing high temperatures back down to around 50 degrees on Wednesday and only 40s for Thanksgiving Thursday. If you're heading to the store on Black Friday morning, bundle up, as I see widespread 20s on thermometers.

Dan Zarrow is 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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