Soaked! These were the wettest towns in NJ during this very rainy August

What a Month

What a turnaround.

June and July combined was New Jersey's second hottest start to climatological summer since record-keeping began in 1895. (Behind only the scorching summer of 2010.) The humidity was horrendous. Air conditioners struggled. Drought concerns spiraled.

As the calendar page turned to August, New Jersey's weather turned dramatically.

Several rounds of severe thunderstorms produced pockets of torrential rain and wind damage through the first weekend of the month.

Then, the remnants of Hurricane Debby fueled a double-whammy of tropical rainstorms on the 6th and the 9th.

Finally, just this past Sunday, another deluge partially connected to Hurricane Ernesto produced multiple inches of rain across northern New Jersey.

The monthly rainfall map is a splotchy mess, because each round of rain soaked a different part of the state.

Although there were some flooded roads and swamped basements, the soaking wet weather had one very positive impact — most of New Jersey is now officially out of drought.

The Wettest Spots

According to the Applied Climate Information System (ACIS), which compiles a variety of official and unofficial weather data, the top month-to-date rainfall for New Jersey is:

Warren Township in Somerset County with 12.37 inches of rain. That was a CoCoRaHS observer, who registered 5.85 inches on Sunday 8/18 alone. Wow.

Two additional NJ observers have reported over a foot of rain this month: North Arlington, Bergen County (12.28 inches — mostly on 8/7) and Madison, Morris County (12.10 inches — mostly on 8/19)

Some other notable rainfall totals (top of their respective counties) include:
Knowlton Township, Warren County (11.43 inches)
Maplewood Township, Essex County (11.42 inches)
Pennington, Mercer County (11.08 inches)
Wanaque Raymond Dam, Passaic County (10.66 inches)
Freehold-Marlboro, Monmouth County (9.94 inches)
New Providence, Union County (9.72 inches)

The Driest Spots

While North Jersey was excessively wet, New Jersey's southern coast missed all the opportunities for heavy rain this month.

The driest spot in the state (with no missing data) appears to be Barnegat Light, on Long Beach Island, in Ocean County with just 0.54 inches of total rainfall.

Wildwood Crest, Cape May County tallied just 1.11 inches. Estell Manor, Atlantic County had just 1.49 inches.

The drier conditions were fortunate for summer beach vacations. But not good for drought concerns — this is why almost a quarter of New Jersey remains in an "Abnormally Dry" status as of the latest Drought Monitor update.

Wettest August Ever?

August is, on average, New Jersey's second wettest month of the year. Behind only July.

Keep in mind, New Jersey's statewide normal (30-year average) August rainfall is about four and a half inches. That means a wide swath of the state saw 200% of normal rainfall. Impressive!

Is that a record for August?

No.

The wettest August on record for New Jersey (since 1895) was 2011. It was also the state's single wettest calendar month. Weeks of intense rainstorms were capped by the arrival of Tropical Storm Irene on August 28, 2024. Statewide average rainfall in August 2011: 15.67 inches.

Back to the present day, a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation puts our statewide average for August 2024 at just under six inches. (FYI, although the month is not over yet, I do not see any more heavy rain on the horizon.) That is only good enough for top 30 placement among the wettest Augusts in history.

Remember: Heavy rain did not occur everywhere. So on a statewide basis, it has been above-normal. But not a record-breaking month.

Dan Zarrow is Chief Meteorologist for Townsquare Media New Jersey. Check out Dan's weather blog or follow him on Facebook for your latest weather forecast updates.