Season Begins With Three Day Heatwave

On Wednesday, the summer solstice began, and appropriately, there was plenty of heat and humidity to announce the start of the season. Three days of heat and humidity left many residents around the Garden State seeking relief at the shore. The high in Northwestern Middlesex on Wednesday was 97 degrees followed by a high of 96 on Thursday, and then a peak of 91 on Friday before thunderstorms pushed through in the afternoon.

Skies that had been bright and blue late last week had become more grey and hazy by the middle of this week as high pressure settled off the Southeastern coast of the United States and created a southwesterly flow of air that pumped in heat and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. Dew points soared into the 70s, which caused heat indices to soar over the 100 degree mark. Wednesday afternoon saw the peak in the misery as temperatures climbed into the mid to upper 90s while the heat index climbed to 112 in Northwestern Middlesex County, and the dew point peaked at 76 degrees.

Around the Garden State on Wednesday, temperatures climbed to near 100 degrees in Newark. On Thursday, high temperatures peaked at 99 degrees in both Harrison and Mount Holly, New Jersey. Other locations around New Jersey such as Toms River were not much cooler. With the three days of 90 plus degree weather here in South Plainfield, there have been six days of 90 degrees or higher in Northwestern Middlesex County in 2012. One day in April, two days in May around the Memorial Day holiday, and the three days this week.

Last year, there was a heatwave two weeks earlier in June. Temperatures were even higher then with temperatures soaring to over 100 degrees during the stretch.