Four Straight Days of 90 Plus Degree Heat Signals Torrid Summer Ahead

The heat and humidity has returned to the Garden State with a vengeance in 2016. After three years of relatively cooler temperatures during the summer months, New Jersey was treated to a preview of what could be a torrid summer ahead with a heat spell that saw temperatures climb to 90 degrees and above for four consecutive days.

The peak was on Saturday when the Mercury climbed to 93 degrees at GWC in South Plainfield, the second warmest temperature during the month of May in the last five years. The warmest day in May recorded at GWC since 2011 occurred in 2013 when the thermometer rocketed up to 93.5 degrees. The heat started to become a factor last Wednesday, when the high temperature reached 88 degrees at GWC.

Then, on both Thursday and Friday, the mercury hit 91 degrees. Add to that heat indices that we well up into the upper 90s and over 100, and conditions felt much like that on the Fourth of July holiday weekend rather than Memorial Day Weekend. After Saturday’s high of 93 degrees with a heat index of 104, things cooled a bit on Sunday with the high temperature only getting up to 90 at GWC.

With the landfall of Tropical Depression Bonnie along the South Carolina coast Saturday night into early Sunday, and an approaching cold front, the heat wave will be snapped on Monday. Temperatures at GWC have only gotten up into the low 80s with the sun battling clouds all day today. The heat index was as high as 86 during the afternoon while the dew point climbed up to 72. So, although conditions cleared out after the overnight rain, there is still plenty of moisture around.

Speaking of moisture, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma has put portions of New Jersey as well as parts of New York and New England under a marginal risk for severe weather today. With moisture from the remnants of Bonnie still to the south and a cold front approaching from the west, the ingredients are still there for some active weather this afternoon. Conditions have been very muggy all day with dew points in the lower 70s, and with the sun coming out in the early afternoon, there’s plenty of fuel being added to the fire.

Overnight, there were some heavy showers and thunderstorms that moved through portions of Central Jersey including Middlesex County. The rain gauge at GWC reported 0.82 inches of rain, which is the highest total for one day of rainfall so far this month. With the overnight rain, GWC has now tallied 3.40 inches of rain, which is the most rainfall since May 2012 when there was 3.56 inches. Three years ago, there was 3.26 inches at GWC. The combination of the recent heatwave, and the significant rainfall this month could be signals of a above normal summer in both temperature and rainfall.

With the decline of the most recent episode of the El Niño and the beginning of a new La Niña, we could be seeing the beginning stages of what could be a very hot summer with a lot of rain. Back in 2011 and 2012, conditions were well above normal in terms of temperature and rainfall here at GWC in South Plainfield, and those years were during La Niña episodes.