124-year record shows: July keeps getting hotter in NJ

Out of the 31 days in July, 23 saw the temperature hit 90 degrees or higher somewhere in the Garden State.

Helped along by a couple days featuring triple-digit temperatures in spots, July 2019 ranked as the seventh warmest on record in New Jersey, going back to 1895, according to State Climatologist David Robinson at Rutgers University.

The average temperature last was month 77.6 degrees. That's three degrees above normal, based on a 30-year mean from 1981 to 2010.

A warmer than usual July is nothing new for New Jersey residents. In fact, six of the eight warmest on record occurred this decade. Eleven of the 20 warmest have occurred since 2002.

"If people are thinking Julys are getting warmer, they're absolutely right," Robinson said. "We are in a different summer climate regime than I certainly was when I grew up in New Jersey quite a long time ago."

The 21st was the hottest day of the bunch last month. On that day, in the middle of a seven-day heatwave of 90-plus degree afternoons, a handful of stations recorded temperatures at the century mark or above, from Atlantic City Airport to Harrison, Hudson County. The day prior, Harrison recorded a reading of 100 degrees.

Precipitation was above average for the month as well, with a wide range in rainfall totals recorded. A station in Stafford Township, Ocean County, for example, picked up 13.29 inches during the month. In Wildwood Crest, Cape May County, experts recorded less than an inch and a half.

Overall, the state averaged 5.94 inches of precipitation, 1.37 inches above normal and representing the 24th wettest July on record in New Jersey.

Eleven events during the month deposited at least an inch of rain at one or more stations.

"We also had two minor tornadoes. Remarkably, both occurred in Mount Laurel," Robinson said.

More from WOBM News: