It's Thursday, and your attention is likely turning to the weekend weather forecast. Let's just get it all out in the open now: this isn't going to be weekend of perfect weather.

Today we have a frontal system crossing the region. If this front cleared New England and continued south that would be the end of the story, and we would have a great few days ahead. However, it's more complicated.

The front will push far enough away Friday to allow for partial sunshine. It will be more humid before the front arrives, and that humidity will slowly drop late Friday night.

The issue with the weekend is that an area of low pressure will form along the front and move out to sea south of New England. This storm — basically another summer nor'easter — will have a lot of rain associated with it for Saturday. Just like in winter, the gradient of heavy precipitation to little precipitation will be very tight. This means some of you north of the Mass. Pike may see no rain while areas on the south side of Cape Cod could see an inch of rain.

Heaviest rain will occur Saturday south of Boston. (Courtesy NOAA)

A chilly wind off the water will keep temperatures below what's normal for July all weekend, and Saturday will be another especially cool day. Lows won't be as cool as earlier this week, but they won't be warm.

We should see improvement Sunday. The clouds may hold tight over Cape Cod early, but there will be some sun and warmer conditions as a result.

Eventually, next week I am expecting several beach days, but we will need to watch the divide between the warm air and cooler air closely. If the atmosphere decides to slow things down, look for a return of clouds again.

With a cool flow off the ocean, temperatures will be below average for late July on Saturday. (Courtesy Tropical Tidbits)

You can follow my updates here and on Twitter @growingwisdom.

Thursday: Mainly cloudy and a bit more humid. An afternoon shower or storm possible. Highs in the upper 70s to low 80s.

Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy. A few showers, mainly south. Lows in the low to mid-60s.

Friday: Partly sunny. More clouds south over Cape Cod. Highs in the upper 70s to lower 80s.

Saturday: Cloudy with a chance of rain, especially south of Boston. Sunshine over far northern New England. Highs 71-77.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, highs 74-78. Cooler on the Cape and the Islands.

Monday: Sunshine. Highs in mid-80s, upper 70s on the Cape and the Islands.