🔵 Parts of NJ are under a "severe drought" designation

🔵 The risk of wildfire is elevated

🔵 Some parts of NJ have seen zero precipitation in October so far

October 2024 could go down as the driest month ever for the Garden State.

Some areas of New Jersey have not yet seen a drop of rain this month, and outlooks don't call for wet conditions any time soon.

In response to persistently below-average precipitation, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection issued a drought watch for the entire state on Thursday, the first since a watch that lasted from August to December of 2022.

The main point of the declaration is to increase public awareness of the state's less-than-ideal water supply, and to encourage the public to practice voluntary water conservation measures.

READ MORE: Does a drought watch mean mandatory water restrictions?

“While water conservation is always important, it becomes critical during prolonged dry periods such as New Jersey has been experiencing for much of the summer and into early fall,” said NJDEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette. “Voluntary water conservation now can help to avoid more serious and restrictive measures in the future.”

If conditions don't improve, mandatory water use restrictions may become necessary, NJDEP said.

The latest map from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that dry conditions have been pestering New Jersey for a while now. Every single portion of the state is under some kind of dry/drought designation.

All of New Jersey is at least "abnormally dry," according to the map, which is updated each Thursday and accounts for precipitation through Tuesday of that week.

About 60% of New Jersey is at least at the "moderate drought" stage. Twelve percent of the state is at level D2 (severe drought). That encompasses portions of six counties, including big pieces of Atlantic, Burlington, and Ocean counties.

"Things are really brittle, real dry," said Dave Robinson, the state's climatologist at Rutgers University. "We can use a soaking rain, stem to stern, in New Jersey."

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In its latest update, which came down on Oct. 6, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's "drought status and conditions" report considers the water supply status to be "normal" in all segments of the state.

Dry September and October

Since the first half of August, rain has been lacking in New Jersey.

According to Robinson, September 2024 was New Jersey's third driest September on record, going back 130 years. A shortage of rain has continued into October.

"This is a month that averages a little over four inches of rain, and the wettest location we can find in the state so far has about a tenth of an inch of precipitation," Robinson said.

Immediate and longer-term forecasts call for New Jersey to remain dry through the end of October. If that plays out, October 2024 could go down as not only the driest October in New Jersey, but the driest month, period. The title currently belongs to October 1963, Robinson said.

It takes a little longer to reach "drought" status in the fall, since residents are using less water than they would be in the summer, and vegetation is less reliant on water compared to the summer months.

Because everything is so dry, and humidity is low, wildfires are a real concern in New Jersey, Robinson added.

Reservoir levels are in OK shape right now, but they'll likely be headed downward given a lack of rain in the forecast.

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