New Jersey Drought Conditions Update – The Ramapo News

For the past month and a half, New York and New Jersey have experienced a severe drought that has led to wildfires in every state. After some rain in recent weeks, the forest fires have now subsided, but the drought remains.

New Jersey counties experienced a rainfall deficit of 9 to 12 inches over the past three months. To overcome the drought, the rain does not have to come all at once, but rather fall over a longer period of time.

David Robinson, New Jersey state climatologist, believes New Jersey needs several months of above-average precipitation to recharge its streams, rivers, reservoirs and aquifers. All of New Jersey’s resources suffer from the pattern of long periods of unseasonably warm weather and lack of rain or snow.

Michael Silva, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s main forecast office in New Jersey, agrees with that statement and believes that multiple rainfall events over several months are better than one or two big storms. He says that due to the lack of rain, the soil is too hard to absorb large amounts of rain and that it will take several months to resolve the drought.

On November 21, New Jersey received much-needed relief with rainfall and the season’s first snow after weeks of unseasonably warm temperatures and very little rain. North Jersey and northern portions of Central Jersey received 2 to 3 inches of rain. On Thanksgiving Day, New Jersey residents experienced another wet and humid day, with between half an inch and three-quarters of an inch of rain falling.

The rain helped, but did not end the drought. Drinking water supplies from New Jersey reservoirs are still lower than normal.

James Tomasini, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Upton, New York, said: “If there is no more rain in the region by the end of Saturday, which appears to be the case at the moment, there will be meteorological consequences.” spanning September 1 through November 30, is the driest on record for the Newark region, with just 3.8 inches of precipitation compared to the typical 10.5 inches.”

As of November 27, the northern half of New Jersey was still in D2 status, meaning severe drought. The southern half of New Jersey was in D3 status, which is higher than D2, and is in extreme drought.

Drought conditions are still in the air and are being called into question given New Jersey’s rainy conditions. There are hopes that rain will come later this week to correct some of the drought conditions.

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Featured photo courtesy of Nitin Shukla