Garden State residents suffered through another heat wave last week, and at times it seemed like the unrelenting heat would never subside. A heat wave is unofficially defined as three or more consecutive days with the maximum temperature at or over 90°. This heat wave lasted seven days for many areas and furthermore, very high dew points (a measure of moisture in the air) made the heat index soar above 105°.

Mary Borsos walked toward her backdoor the morning of July 1 in Berkeley Heights (Union County) and noticed the rain falling in heavy sheets.

If you are like me, you cannot wait until the Fourth of July. It’s a time when you are able to join the rest of the Garden State and celebrate everything New Jersey and American! This year I plan on spending my holiday with many fellow meteorologists down the shore, firing up the BBQ, and catching the Macy's Fireworks in Weehawken.

"It's been a wet one." That's what many New Jersey residents would say so far about the first part of June.

A week after the unofficial start of summer many areas saw temperatures soar, giving the Garden State its first heat wave of the season (a heat wave is defined as a hot period having at least three consecutive days of 90°+ temperatures), temperatures steadily rose throughout the period from May 29 to May 31, with most areas away from the shoreline getting into the low to mid 90’s.

If there is one thing that was consistent with New Jersey's weather in May, and for that matter throughout this past spring (March-May), it was the inconsistency.

While many wondered if spring would ever arrive across the Garden State, the average April temperature was actually close to the long-term mean.

While the core of the winter season (December-February) averaged quite a bit milder than usual across New Jersey (see winter summary in the February narrative), the broader cool season began with a November that was cooler than average with above-average snowfall and ended with a cooler and snowier than average March, making for what seemed to be a long winter.

While winter snow has almost accumulated to the seasonal average here in central New Jersey, time and time again it seems as if our area has been left short in the snow department. This atmospheric nickel and diming has included a number of times when areas to the south accumulated more snow, and occasions, as often expected, when locations to the north were the "winners".

February Overview

 By mid-winter standards, January 2013 was not an exceedingly memorable one in the New Jersey weather and climate annals. But like every month, there were certainly events worthy of mention.

Sandy, a category 1 hurricane as it approached the New Jersey coast during the daytime hours of the 29th and a post-tropical cyclone as it came ashore near Atlantic City (Atlantic County) that evening, dealt the state a punishing blow.