Rain at New Jersey shore as rare as in the Mojave Desert this fall as drought worsens

The last time residents of shore needed an umbrella, President Joe Biden was still running for a second term and the Yankees, well the Yankees were looking like World Series Champions.

It was so long ago that visitors may mistake the Jersey Shore as the Mojave Desert since rainfall totals have been just as low here for this time of year.

“So far, September and October has been NJ’s driest two-month interval on record. The estimated 0.84” is well below the previous record low of 1.35” in December 1980-January 1981,” said David Robinson the state climatologist at Rutgers University.

The last known date that the Garden State saw rain was on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, and it was a moderate 0.36 inches of rain.

“New Jersey saw equal to or greater than a tenth of an inch of rain in the Atlantic City area,” said meterologist Paul Fitzsimmons of the National Weather Service.

For months the New Jersey forecast has been warm temperatures, sunny skies and no rain, but the consecutive days of dry weather are setting records.

September was the third driest month New Jersey has ever experienced. The rainfall totaled 0.83 inches statewide when normal is 4.16 inches.

The entire state is experiencing a water drought with Monmouth County classified as D1 for moderate drought and Ocean County classified as D2 for severe drought according to U.S. Drought Monitor.

“We owe this drought to an unusually persistent ridge of high pressure over the region back to late August which has produced clear skies and dry air,” said Robinson.

Over the past 90 days, the state has received below-normal levels of rainfall particularly in central and southern portions of the state, according to the National Weather Service.

“It has also deflected any low pressure systems with rain from advancing into the region.  Not uncommon for a few weeks now and again, a two-month or longer such interval is quite unusual,” Robinson said.

How many days has New Jersey gone without rain?

Most records reports are between 25-35-day ranges, but some statistics may vary as locations in New Jersey might have picked up a hundredth or few hundredths of an inch in a scattered shower over the course of the past 30 or so days.

New Jersey driest month on record

The previous record was 0.25” in October 1963. The average October precipitation is 4.19”.

Robinson estimates that October 2024 will come in at 0.01”, since many locations did not receive measurable precipitation.

New Jersey drought streaks

• 1939, Nov. for 25 days
• 1941, Sept. to Oct. for 22 days
• 1949, May to June for 26 days
• 1991, Oct. to Nov. for 23 days
• 1995, Sept. for 24 days