New Jersey
Why is it so (bleeping) cold in N.J.? Here’s who to blame (looking at you, Canada).
We’ve worn layers. We’ve broken out the space heaters. We have donned winter hats, gloves and scarves up the wazoo.
But, there’s no escaping it — it is bleeping cold out, Jersey. And it’s kind of the only thing we can think about.
Robert Galizio, a 63-year-old from Spring Lake Heights, summed it up pretty succinctly when he had the dreaded misfortune of being outside Thursday night: “It’s been brutal.”
Usually, he’s outdoorsy. A jogger who likes to trot at the Jersey Shore. These days, he’s joined the rest of us, cursing our weather apps as temperatures have plummeted into the teens and single digits and aren’t budging. He’s avoiding the tundra out his front door, working more remote days so he doesn’t have to leave his house at all.
“And (now) we’re getting (more) snow.” His disappointment in the forecast is palpable.
“All good news.” At least his Jersey attitude hasn’t frozen to death.
Still, Galizio is wondering what we all are: why, oh WHY dear weather gods, is it so cold in New Jersey?
You can blame Canada. At least partially.
“An Arctic air mass pretty much came down through Canada and enveloped much of the United States … and because the high (pressure) is so strong, it’s really not going anywhere,” Michael Silva, lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said over the phone Thursday.
The mass of bitterly cold air, which weather heads call a “polar vortex,” has just “settled over the country and it’s really not going to leave until late this weekend,” Silva said while looking at the forecast from his Mount Holly office.
During most of the year, the polar vortex is parked north of us, near the North Pole. During the winter, it comes down to visit, and brings cold temperatures with it.
That’s thanks to another gem of the meteorological world called the “polar jet stream” — sort of like a river of fast-moving air high in the atmosphere that dips down to allow cold air to flow from the north, where it usually belongs, into this region.
But even the experts aren’t fully sure why the cold won’t just give us a break.
“Why this pattern has persisted this winter is not fully known,” David Robinson, the New Jersey State Climatologist who is based at Rutgers University, told NJ Advance Media.
The reason may be linked to “distant ocean temperatures in the Pacific and atmospheric disturbances over the Atlantic (Ocean)” said Robinson, but the cause is still being determined.
Is climate change to blame?
Maybe — but it’s complicated.
Trends tied to climate change are measured by longer spans of time.
Weather and climate aren’t the same thing, scientists say. The “weather” is specific to a time and place but “climate” is a place’s average weather combined with other environmental factors over an extended period.
So you can’t really blame one cold day, or even an entirely frigid winter, on climate change.
But, they may be related.
Links between climate change and the extreme cold we can’t escape “may be associated with warmer north Atlantic arctic waters that impact the atmosphere, even at very high altitudes,” Robinson said Thursday.
But the “jury remains out” on that theory.
“There is debate within the climate community as to whether persistent jet stream patterns that lead to areas of cold and warmth are associated with a changing climate,” he said.
Still, it makes sense the polar vortex would move southward, toward us, thanks to global warming because the planet isn’t warming in a uniform way, Steven Decker, the director of the Meteorology Undergraduate Program at Rutgers University, said in 2024 when a mass of Arctic air last moved into our area.
“It’s warming more at the pole, overall decreasing the strength of the polar vortex and the jet stream and making it more susceptible to being dislodged and sent our way,” Decker said.
“While cold conditions in the U.S. have made headlines, Greenland and the Arctic have quietly had a remarkably mild winter,” Ben Noll, a meteorologist at The Washington Post wrote Wednesday.
Some scientists link polar vortex disruptions to melting sea ice, resulting from human-caused climate change.
Without that ice, the temperature of water in the Atlantic Ocean is closer to that in the Arctic. Further down the line, it means a polar jet stream with strong and frequent waves bring cold air into the Northeast with weakened air to the west and east of our region.
So, how long will we have to wear our parkas?
A break in the below freezing weather may not come until early next week, the National Weather Service said Thursday.
But it won’t last long. After temperatures are slated to reach the balmy mid-30s, a cold weather pattern is forecasted to linger into the middle of February, according to experts from AccuWeather.
“This overall pattern is expected to last for at least the next two weeks,” Robinson, the Rutgers professor, said.
“This doesn’t mean it will be as cold throughout this period as this current week’s frigid conditions but will likely keep temperatures mostly below normal well into February.”
And then what? Will we ever feel warmth again?
Beyond next month, “it is uncertain when the (cold) pattern will break,” Robinson said.
But he had a glimmer of good news — “at some point it will.”
Memorial Day is a short 115 days away. Til then, stay warm.
It’s been nearly a decade and a half since the Brooklyn Nets moved out of New Jersey.
The organization has completely revamped its vibe since switching states, ditching the red, white and blue look for a very basic black and white colorway.
The Nets have also intermittently changed the colors of the banners hanging up in the Barclays Center from red, white and blue to black and white, much to the chagrin of traditional Nets fans.
Despite the Nets now playing in a bigger market and being far removed from their days in the Garden State, some fans seem to hope for the Nets to make their return across the river. New Jersey governor Mikie Sherrill was asked about the matter.
“I mean, would I support it? I ask about it all the time,” Sherrill said. “I love the idea. So, I have been pressing for that. I haven’t made a lot of headway yet; you know, maybe in my second 100 days.
“But I do think there is some work being done for some — I don’t know if I’m allowed to say too much about it — but some people are working on some different sports coming into the Rock.”
As time went on, the Nets eventually started to embrace more of their New Jersey roots, which started when they rocked a clean tie-dye jersey from the 90s during the 2020-21 season.
The next season, the Nets followed it up with uniforms commemorating their run in the 2000s, when the team got to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003 and endlessly broke the ESPN top 10 with each crazy Jason Kidd assist and Vince Carter dunk.
It’s fitting that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the latter of whom grew up in New Jersey as a Nets fan, got to rock these uniforms, helping boost the popularity of the New Jersey brand to a wide array of fans.
True Nets fans embraced the Continental Airlines Arena/Izod Center and the swamps of East Rutherford, getting to witness a winning basketball team for a fraction of the cost of the team mired in dysfunction that happened to play their home games at “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”
Not many marquee free agents would have signed up to play in New Jersey, but real fans remember the good times in the swamps, especially with Sly the Fox as the team’s mascot. Those times deserve to be remembered properly.
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ATLANTIC COUNTY, N.J. (WPVI) — Drivers heading to the shore on Friday afternoon saw slow-moving traffic for several miles coming off the Walt Whitman bridge, but many travelers said the start of the holiday weekend was smoother than they anticipated.
Aldara Madden, who was traveling with her friend Elana Maser, said the trip moved faster than she expected.
“I was expecting it to take a lot longer,” she said.
Maser added that they left school early to avoid delays.
“My mom and I do that every year and then we always stop here as our little pre-down the shore,” she said.
Others shared similar experiences.
“I’m coming from Bucks County, so I was worried there was gonna be some traffic but it really wasn’t bad at all,” said Erin McFadden of Churchville, who was headed to Ocean City.
AAA reported that while slightly more people are traveling by car this year compared to last, 2026 is projected to have the lowest year-over-year travel growth rate in more than a decade, excluding the steep drop seen in 2020 during the pandemic.
The organization attributes the slowdown largely to concerns over rising prices.
“Gas is ridiculously expensive and I think all the time before going anywhere these days,” said Debbie Maser of Philadelphia. “But this is our happy place and nothing can keep us away.”
A dreary weekend forecast may also be influencing travel patterns.
“I was thinking that, I wonder if there’ll be less congestion on the roads because of the weather,” said Kyra Wolin of Massachusetts. “It’s not looking to be too good this weekend with the rain.”
Still, many shore-bound travelers said tradition outweighs any concerns about rain or crowds.
“No not at all. You go down. You get it done,” said George Miller of Lansdale.
Eric Wolin of Massachusetts agreed: “Never, never. Margate’s a special place for us.”
As the unofficial start of summer begins, travelers said they remain committed to kicking off the season in their favorite spots, not letting rain, traffic, or high prices keep them away.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk, bringing you news and solutions for our changing region.
From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch.
As summer begins, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill is urging residents to limit lawn watering, and hand water flowers and shrubs as a drought warning continues. The warning, in place since December 2025, could turn into a drought emergency if conditions do not improve. The state has suffered eight consecutive months of below-normal rainfall, according to officials.
“New Jersey is experiencing a chronic water supply drought, the scale of which we haven’t seen in more than twenty years,” state geologist Steven Domber said in a statement issued earlier this month. “The indicators that we track closely are showing persistently dry conditions. With uncertainty for rainfall in the coming months, we need residents to conserve water today, to ensure we have enough to sustain our needs over the summer.”
The Department of Environmental Protection uses a variety of indicators to determine drought levels, including precipitation, stream flows, reservoir levels, ground water levels and demand.
In addition to the last two months, officials say, the state “experienced below normal precipitation for 20 of the last 24 months since September 2024,” despite heavy snowfall events this past winter that helped restore reservoirs in North Jersey.
“While we saw a little relief over the winter, New Jersey is feeling the effects of nearly two years of below-normal precipitation,” Sherrill said in a statement earlier this month. She urged residents to voluntarily conserve water.
New Jersey state climatologist David Robinson said that since precipitation has been below normal for most of the last 24 months, the recent winter weather did not provide enough water to help restore streams and groundwater.
Should a drought emergency be declared, mandatory water restrictions would be put in place. The last drought emergency lasted almost a year, between March 2002 and January 2003.
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