A cool, damp day is in store for New Jersey with rain during the day and northwestern areas of the state getting a dusting of snow at night, forecasters say.

Rain totals have been dialed back but Thursday’s moisture is “still a generous and much needed precipitation event,” especially for North Jersey, the National Weather Service said in its morning forecast discussion.

“The signal remains clear that the heaviest rain will fall across our northern zones with considerably less to the south, but overall, forecast precipitation has diminished slightly.”

By the time the last of the moisture pushes away from the state on Friday night, precipitation amounts will range from 1.5-2 inches in northwestern regions to a tenth to quarter inch in southern New Jersey. Central portions of the state should wind up with a half-inch to an inch of rain.

Overall, the rain will help New Jersey’s drought, but won’t come close to alleviating it.

“The drought is much too extensive and too significant to be resolved by one storm,” AccuWeather.com said.

The other story Thursday will be gusty winds that could reach as high as 25 mph inland and 40 mph along the Jersey Shore.

Rain will be mainly light, though heavier showers are possible at times, according to the weather service’s New York office, which covers Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Union counties.

High temperatures will top out in the low 50s around mid-afternoon.

Rain will change to light snow tonight in northern New Jersey with less than an inch expected in general. Hilly areas in Sussex and parts of Passaic counties could see slightly higher totals. Lows will be in the 30s.

Some scattered light rain is expected Friday before it tapers off at night from west to east, according to forecasters. It’ll be a chilly, breezy day with highs only in the 40s before temps dip into the 30s overnight.

Dry weather returns for the weekend with mostly sunny conditions and highs in the low 50s both days. The forecast is the almost the same for Monday and Tuesday, though temps will be slightly warmer.

Current weather radar

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Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com.

Attention drivers using New Jersey roads, tolls are about to go up again on two major highways next year.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority approved a 2025 budget that includes a three percent increase to tolls on the turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.

According to a spokesperson with the authority, the annual Turnpike toll will go up by 16 cents. Some examples include:

• From Interchange 4 to Interchange 7A to go up by 10 cents
• From Interstate 95 through Interchange 6 to the Newark airport (Interchange 13A) will go up by 30 cents
• To travel south from Interchange 4 to the Delaware Memorial Bridge will go up 13 cents

Officials said that the tolls at the main plazas on the Parkway will go up by eight cents. Some of those include:

• Cape May
• Great Egg
• Sommers Point

Meanwhile, tolls at Parkway ramp plazas will go up by just three cents.

The increase goes into effect for both roads on Jan. 1.

This is the fourth increase since the Turnpike Authority board approved annual toll hikes back in 2020.