Sunny, comfortable Labor Day weather across the Philadelphia region

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A cold front will move through the area Monday morning, which will open the northwesterly flow to usher in the cooler and drier air that we will enjoy through the first half of the week. In the meantime, clouds will be slow to clear at first this morning with mostly cloudy skies expected across most the region. Slowly but surely the cloud cover will break apart and clear out from west-to-east with the sun taking just a little longer to return down the shore.

While the clouds will take a little while to clear out for our Labor Day, more comfortable conditions have already arrived. Highs today across the region will be in the upper 70s to near 80 degrees, running about five degrees cooler than normal. In addition to the cooler temperatures today it'll also be a little breezy with northwesterly winds between 10-15 mph.

This cooler northwesterly flow will continue to pump in the cooler and drier air tonight as temperatures steadily drop into the middle 50s by early Tuesday morning under clear skies. Temperatures across the Lehigh Valley and Poconos will start Tuesday morning in the mid-upper 40s.

Sunshine will be in full effect for our Tuesday which will help warm temperatures back into the mid-upper 70s Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday will feature another cool and crisp morning with a sunny and mild afternoon. A little more warmth begins to return through the second half of the week, but temperatures will still be near or slightly cooler than normal with highs in the low 80s.

Rain looks to stay out of the forecast through Thursday, but by Friday our next weather maker will bring the chance for a few light showers in the afternoon. By Saturday showers look more likely as a low pressure system moves up the Mid-Atlantic coast and a cold front approaches from the west.

The combination of these two systems looks to keep the chance of rain through the entire weekend before clearing out early next week.

7-day forecast

Monday: High of 80, mostly sunny Labor Day

Tuesday: High of 76, low of 56, sunny skies

Wednesday: High of 79, low of 57, mostly sunny

Thursday: High of 81, low of 60, partly sunny

Friday: High of 81, low of 64, partly sunny

Saturday: High of 79, low of 69, scattered showers

Sunday: High of 76, low of 62, few showers