February Overview

Introduction

Data have been collected from multiple NJ stations over a long period of time, some dating back to the nineteenth century. With this amount of data, we can perform a multitude of analyses on different variables, such as daily maximum or minimum temperature.

As some of you may remember, last winter there was a weak La Niña event in the tropical Pacific that followed a strong El Niño in 2015. As most past La Niñas have suggested, due to remote influences on circulation across North America, the winter 2016/17 snowfall in New Jersey was not abundant. Here we are again in a weak La Niña situation as the heart of the 2017/18 winter approaches. Thus far, snowfall is above average, but clearly it is too early to say if this season will end up with a surplus or deficit of the white stuff. What exactly is a La Niña?

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.

Overview

A harvest of "Rutgers 250" tomatoes, named in commemoration of Rutgers' 250th anniversary. Photo by Jay Amberg.

August Overview

Morning valley ground fog in Wantage Township (Sussex County) early on July 22nd. Photo by Nick Stefano.

Overview

The following report was written by Eric Davis, a Chatham High School Senior, based on research performed during 1-month internship at the Office of the NJ State Climatologist The convention of the weather and climate community has been to calculate the observed daily mean temperature by summing the maximum and minimum instantaneous temperatures during a 24-hour period and dividing by two. However, does this recording method capture and represent the true average temperature over the course of a day?

The convention of the weather and climate community has been to calculate the observed daily mean temperature by summing the maximum and minimum instantaneous temperatures during a 24-hour period and dividing by two. However, does this recording method capture and represent the true average temperature over the course of a day? This conventional approach fails to integrate significant behaviors of temperature associated with rapid weather events, frontal passages, sea breezes, and even seasonal temperature variations.