After a four day bout with record breaking heat, a frontal boundary crossed the area earlier this afternoon and  evening, bringing an end to the oppressive conditions. Before the front crossed, more record high temperatures were set. Newark, New Jersey reached 102 degrees (after setting a record high yesterday) at 2pm on Thursday, setting the record high for the day. Additionally, it was the earliest date in history that Newark had surpassed the 100 degree mark (that's a pretty tough record to break). Other locations of significance were Teterboro (101 degrees), LaGuardia (97 degrees), Central Park (95 degrees) and Kennedy Airport (93 degrees). The front finally came through later in the afternoon.  Unfortunately, it brought severe thunderstorms with it, with several locales throughout the area (especially over Southeast New York and Connecticut) reporting damaging wind gusts and large hail stones. Despite the weak frontal passage, however, the main cold front will remain back to our west over the next few days, allowing for an unsettled period of weather this weekend. Showers and thunderstorms are a possibility Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before the front finally crosses the area. That being said, the showers and storms will be spotty and shouldn't last all day--so there are no washouts in the forecast. Featured image: Current temperatures throughout the Mid-Atlantic states courtesy of Rutgers Weather Net.

Damaging winds sweep away oppressive heat: The severe weather was rather widespread, although luckily it did not directly affect the New York City metro area. Areas throughout Southeast New York and Connecticut reported severe winds, large hail, and power outages as the storms came through. The storms actually initiated over New York State, moved southeast, and then dropped due south towards the better instability over our area. The Storm Prediction Center issued a rare "Moderate Risk" for severe weather at 11:30am..indicating the potential for widespread damaging winds and hail, which definitely came to fruition as mentioned. Truth be told, it was one of the only ways to scour out such a hot, moist, and unstable airmass which had been in place. Featured image: Storm reports throughout the area from June 9th, 2011 courtesy of the Storm Prediction Center. Click here to see the full text reports.

Article by John Homenuk. Written June 10th, 2011 at 12:41am. Looking for a forecast? See New York Metro Weather's Long Range Forecast for the end of the week into the weekend, or view our Technical Forecast Discussion for the more serious weather enthusiasts. Also, check out our new Forecast Overview tab. For up to the minute details on forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.