Twenty-One Days of 90 Degree Plus Temperatures at GWC

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, there was an emergence of an El Niño pattern and for the past several years, temperatures had been more comfortable. The summers of 2011 and 2012 saw peak temperatures over 100 degrees, but then in 2013, 2014, and 2015, the peaks were only in the mid 90s.

While the heat has not been as intense as the summers of 2011 and 2012, there has certainly been a lot of it at GWC. The peak temperature of the year at GWC was reached recently during the latest heat wave to grip the Garden State and Mid-Atlantic States.

On Saturday, August 13th, the high temperature at GWC in South Plainfield was 96 degrees, the highest to date in 2016 for this location. On top of that, the humidity reached its highest level of 2016 with a peak dew point of 82. Combining the heat and humidity, the heat index reached a remarkable 125 degrees.

The intense tropical heat and humidity last weekend were the highlights of the latest heatwave at GWC and the rest of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. This latest torrid stretch of weather lasted for six days. It was the fourth heatwave of the summer at GWC. The longest stretch of 90 degree plus heat was eight days cumulating with powerful storms on July 25th.

There have been 21 days of 90 degree plus weather at GWC in South Plainfield since the week before Memorial Day Weekend. The summer season got off to an auspicious start with a four day heat wave that greeted the unofficial start to summer. With the intense heat and humidity, something has had to give at times, and that means severe weather.

Like those summers of 2011 and 2012, there was plenty of strong to severe storms throughout New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic this summer. Most notably for GWC was on July 18th and July 25th. Most recently, there were some strong storms during the overnight hours earlier this week. Storms on Wednesday morning brought down large tree limbs in Piscataway and South Plainfield.

While July was a very wet month with over six inches of rain at GWC in South Plainfield, August has been relatively dry. Much of the rain has come within the past week with 0.53 inches of rain coming from strong storms early on Wednesday morning. So far this August, there has only been 1.24 inches of rain at GWC in South Plainfield. For the year, there has been a total of 22.54 inches.