High Humidity Highlights Last Unofficial Weekend of Summer in NJ

After the coolest August in three years in Northwestern Middlesex County as well as the rest of the Central Jersey area and the Tri-State, summer tried to make one last stand for the Labor Day holiday. Whether you were at the Jersey Shore, Lower Manhattan, Yankee Stadium, or at the South Plainfield Labor Day Parade, the warmer and humid weather made it feel like South Florida, or somewhere in the Gulf Coast states of Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana. Temperatures in South Plainfield rose into the mid 80s on both Saturday and Sunday, and when combined with oppressive dew points of 77 degrees on both days, heat indices managed to get up into the low to mid 90s.

Taking in some baseball at Yankee Stadium on both Saturday and Sunday, I battled the heat and humidity. Just walking from the Seastreak ferry service to the stadium had me soaked in sweat by the time I got to my seat. Thankfully, the boat rides back provided some much needed and appreciated air conditioning from mother nature. Back at home in South Plainfield, the high on Saturday was 86 while on Sunday it was 84. Combined with a dew point around 77 degrees on both days, the heat index still managed to top out at 96 on Saturday and 93 on Sunday. On Monday, the temperature was cooler with a high of only 78 thanks to the cloud cover, but the humidity remained with the dew point still reaching uncomfortable levels at 74 degrees.

Despite the heat and humidity as well as threatening skies during the course of the weekend, there hasn’t been much rain here at GWC. So far this holiday weekend, there has only been 0.59 inches with the most occurring on Sunday with 0.41 inches. Thunderstorms moved through during the late afternoon and early evening on Sunday to provide the rainfall. Other areas including portions of Middlesex County received more rain this weekend, especially on Saturday night and Sunday morning. While South Plainfield only had about 0.02 inches during that period, places such as East Brunswick and Woodbridge both had just over six tenths of an inch. On Sunday, Cranbury Township in the southern portion of the county, tallied up 1.2 inches of rain in thunderstorms.

In other areas around the state, New Providence in Union County had 0.45 inches on Sunday while Howell, in Southern Monmouth County racked up three quarters of an inch. Over in Somerset County, Franklin Township compiled 0.68 inches while Bedminster received 0.61 inches. To the west in Hunterdon County, several stations in Flemington reported 0.93, 0.97, and 1.16 inches respectively while Califon had 0.86, and Clinton tallied up 0.82 inches. Just to the north in Warren County, Greenwich came in with the most rain at just under a half an inch while Washington Township reported just under four tenths of an inch. Further south in Ocean County, Jackson Township had some heavy rain go through with one location in the town receiving two-thirds of an inch while another section of the town had 1.62 inches, and another reporting station there received 3.68 inches. Returning north into Essex County, Cedar Grove had 1.2 inches on Sunday while Harrison in Hudson County just had a quarter of an inch. Wantage in Sussex County reported 0.35 inches on Sunday.

The reason for this tropical like weather are a couple things. First, there has been a large ridge of high pressure in the middle of the country, and that stretched eastward. It had produced a significant heatwave as of late last week. To the east of the ridge is a trough of low pressure that is accompanied by a frontal system. The heat and humidity provided plenty of energy and the trough over the region has supplied enough instability for showers and storms. A change is on the way though as the frontal system accompanying the trough is pushing eastward. A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect for portions of Central New York and Northern Pennsylvania until 10:00 PM. A solid line of storms has developed during the course of the afternoon from Southeastern Canada, through New York, and stretching into Central and Western Pennsylvania. We’ll have to see if this line of storms will hold together and get to the Garden State.