Here is the Office of the NJ State Climatologist's ranking of the top 10 weather and climate events of 2017. More about each event can be found in the monthly narratives posted on njclimate.org. You might be tempted to rearrange the rankings, particularly as some of the events down the list may have affected you more than others ranked higher. Or perhaps you best recall one that didn't make the list. That's the enjoyment and frustration of lists! Unless stated otherwise, statewide values are based on an average of several dozen stations. The period of record for monthly and annual departures is 1981–2010; while for extremes and rankings it is from 1895–present.

1. Top 10 warmth
1. Annual: Yet again, this makes the annual top 10 list, coming in as the 6^th warmest on record, with a preliminary mean of 54.8°.
2. Seasonal: winter (December 2016–February 2017) 6^th warmest, fall 6^th warmest.
3. Monthly: February warmest, April warmest, September 10^th warmest, October 2^nd warmest.

2. February warmer than March
1. The statewide monthly average temperature of 40.4° in February exceeded the March average of 39.1°.
2. This was only the third time on record when March was colder than the previous February. This also occurred in 1984 and 1960, mainly due to cold Marches, while this year it was due to a record warm February.
3. The 24^th was one of the three warmest February days on record in NJ (others being the 25^th in 1930 and 24^th in 1985). Hamilton (Mercer County) reached 78° and stations in Burlington, Middlesex, and Sussex counties got to 77°.
4. New Brunswick (Middlesex) exceeded 70° on three consecutive days for the first time on record in February.

3. October 29^th–30^th deluge
1. Largest statewide rainstorm since April 30, 2014.
2. Due to previous dry conditions, there were no flooding issues aside from scattered roadway flooding and some streams and small rivers approaching bank-full status.
3. Randolph Township (Morris) caught the most rain with 5.42”. Of the 232 CoCoRaHS reports, four sites received over 5.00”, 45 locations had 4.00”–4.99”, 109 from 3.00”–3.99”, and 74 from 2.08”–2.99”.
4. Atmospheric pressure fell to 28.85”–29.95”.
5. Wind gusts reached 53 mph at High Point Monument (Sussex) and 52 mph at Harvey Cedars (Ocean).
6. A storm surge approached 5 feet along the north Jersey coast, however, the peak of this occurred at low tide, thus flooding was minimal.

4. January 23^rd–24^th nor’easter
1. 3.16” of rain in Lacey Township (Ocean) and 4.1” of snow in Highland Lakes (Sussex).
2. 13 NJWxNet stations gusted above 50 mph and 20 between 40–49 mph. Maximum was 59 mph in Seaside Heights (Ocean) and Sea Girt (Monmouth).
3. There was a 3–4 foot storm surge along coast, with extensive beach erosion.

5. Green summer
1. June–August precipitation averaged 14.78” across NJ. While only 2.10” above average and ranking 39^th wettest, rains were timely enough that fields and non-irrigated lawns remained green.
2. July was particularly wet in portions of the south, with monthly totals as high as 11.46” in Fairfield (Cumberland). Franklin Township (Gloucester) caught 6.15” from the 23^rd–24^th and the Atlantic City Airport in Pomona (Atlantic) received 5.41” on the 28^th.
3. The summer green was preceded with an assist from the 9^th wettest May on record.

6. Brushes by remnants of tropical systems.
1. Remnants of Tropical Storm Cindy (June 24): 3.22” in Hopewell Township (Mercer), two EF0 tornadoes in Howell (Monmouth), microburst in Browns Mills (Burlington).
2. Remnants of Hurricane Harvey (September 5^th–7^th): 2.64” in Jefferson Township (Morris).
3. The westernmost bands of precipitation from Hurricane Jose brushed the state on the 19^th, with Colts Neck (Monmouth) and Point Pleasant Beach (Ocean) each receiving 0.64”.
4. Along with Jose, Hurricane Irma, which remained well offshore, resulted in dangerous rip currents from September 18^th–21^st. This led to several drowning deaths and numerous water rescues. Minor to scattered moderate back-bay flooding and beach erosion accompanied the tumultuous surf.
5. Hurricane Nate remained well offshore but managed to throw some rain back into NJ from October 8^th–9^th. Montague (Sussex) received the most, with 1.51”.
6. The strong hybrid storm on October 29^th–30^th was partly fueled by the remnants of short-lived Tropical Storm Philippe. See entry 3 for more event information.

7. Windy days
1. Gusts of 50 mph or higher somewhere in NJ every month of the year except September.
2. 6 days with winds gusting above 60 mph at one or more NJWxNet or National Weather Service airport stations. Maximum 66 mph at High Point Monument on February 9^th.
3. Maximum gust 66 mph at High Point Monument on February 9^th.
4. 88 days with winds gusting to 40 mph or higher. Of these, 34 had gusts of at least 50 mph.
5. Statewide, several especially windy days, including January 23^rd–24^th, February 9^th, 13^th, 25^th, March 2^nd, March 13^th–14^th, April 6^th, May 14^th, June 19^th, October 24^th, October 29^th–30^th, November 19^th, December 13^th, and 25^th.

8. Three 10” plus snowstorms
1. 10.7” at Barnegat Light (Ocean) on January 7^th, the only station over 10”.
2. 13.5” at Highland Lakes (Sussex) on February 9^th. Passaic and Sussex counties had some stations report 10” or more.
3. 19.8” in Wantage (Sussex; click here to view a video from the height of the storm) on March 13^th–14^th. Eight counties had at least one station report 10” or more.
4. These three events were among 17 during the 2016–2017 snow season where 2.0” or more fell at one or more locations across NJ.

9. Quirky cold
1. -8 minimum at Berkeley Township (Ocean) in the south Jersey Pinelands on January 9^th proved to be the coldest in NJ in 2017. Typically, this honor is held by a northwest location.
2. Fall cold weather finally arrived on November 11^th. The minimum of 20° in New Brunswick was the first freeze of the season at this location, and was 22 days later than average. It not only tied the record low for the date, but also was the coldest on record for so early in the season. The first recorded sub-freezing temperature of the season at this location had never been colder than 25°.

10. Eclipse weather
1. While the solar eclipse during the mid afternoon of August 21^st was only 70%–75% complete in New Jersey, there was still a noticeable impact on NJ weather conditions.
2. Solar radiation values around the 2:45 PM eclipse maximum fell to levels received at about 7:30 AM earlier during that clear to partly cloudy day.
3. At the time of maximum solar obscuration, the air temperature fell about 4° at many stations around the state.

In close contention:

11. Dry conditions dominate fall and early winter.
1. September, November, and December (10^th driest) all had negative statewide average precipitation departures exceeding 1.5”.
2. If not for the heavy rains of late October (24^th and 29^th; see #3 above) this entry would have made the top 10.

12. End of year cold snap.
1. The vast majority of the state failed to see the temperature rise above freezing during the last five days of 2017. Lows dipped into the single digits in a number of locations each day.
2. This outbreak is expected to continue into early 2018, thus might eventually be a “bridge” candidate for a 2018 entry.