New Jersey as well as other states are in the midst of a serious drought that is affecting waters supplies, creating fire hazards and also affecting wildlife.
North Jersey is expected to get some much-needed rain on Wednesday evening with rain continuing Thursday and tapering off Thursday night. The region could get up to 1.25 inches of rain. But the state is way behind normal levels.
For New Jersey, October was the driest month since at least 1895, when record-keeping began. The state’s top climate official called the month a “shutout” with almost no precipitation anywhere in the Garden State.
Manasquan Reservoir is now under 50% capacity.
Bergen County alone has had just 2.2 inches of rain in the past 90 days, 83% below normal. Oradell, Woodcliff Lake, Lake Tappan, the 3 reservoirs on the Hackensack River, are at 58% capacity. Normally at this time of year they are at 61% capacity. This time last year they were at 95%. The Veolia system system supplies water to 800,000 residents of Bergen and Hudson counties.
Wanaque, Monksville are the two reservoirs operated by the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission. The Wanaque was at 44% and the backup Monksville was at 87% on Monday, Nov. 18. Combined they were at 52%. Normally at this time of year they are at 67%. Last year at this time they were at 82%. The Wanaque provides water to more than 100 municipalities in North Jersey, from Alpine to Newark.
Firefighters across New Jersey are battling a number of wildfires during this record-breaking dry spell that is affecting the entire Northeast. Since early October, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service has responded to 537 wildfires, a more than 1,300% increase in wildfires over the same period last year. The New Jersey Office of Emergency Management has deployed the State’s All-Hazards Incident Management Team to supplement operations. The Jennings Creek wildfire, burning along New Jersey’s border with New York, claimed the life of New York State Parks System employee Dariel Vasquez as he fought the fire on Saturday.
Long-term weather forecasts suggest the winter ahead may be drier than normal too. It is nothing like California, where wildfires routinely destroy hundreds of thousands of acres a year. But raging fires — which prompted local evacuations this past weekend and smoke wafting into New York City have given residents and political leaders alike a taste of West Coast life in a warming climate. Last year, our region’s air was dangerously polluted by smoke from fires in Canada.
DEP Press Release on the drought
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