By Meteorologist Joe Martucci
By the time you read this, you likely lived through our third inland heat wave of the year. A heat wave, defined in the Northeast as three or more days of 90 degree or greater air temperatures, came with a big dose of humid air, too. The cooling sea breezes worked hard, though. They kept our coastal communities a good bit cooler, giving us the reason to enjoy the beaches, boardwalks and bays.
Urban Heat Island
Speaking of heat, new research by Climate Central, a non-profit group based in Princeton, breaks down how much additional heat communities across America experience due to the “built environment”.
In the weather world, we call this the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. Black asphalt, tall buildings, dense housing and lack of green spaces allow the sun’s heat radiation to be amplified during the day and hang around longer at night. ClimateCentral uses this data to estimate the UHI.
Our most urbanized city in the area, Atlantic City, has an urban heat island effect of 7.7 to 10.9 degrees higher than surrounding areas.
However, you don’t have to be Atlantic City to experience an urban heat island effect. We know how built up our shore is. Margate experiences temperatures 8.4 to 11 degrees higher than other surrounding coastal communities. The core of Ocean City, right over the Ninth Street Bridge, is over eight degrees warmer. Inland Marmora, Upper Township is 7.6 degrees warmer.
Now, the increased heat from the urban heat island is not constant. We come to the shore for the cool ocean breezes. It sounds odd to say that the shore is hotter than surrounding areas. We come to the shore to escape the heat! However, think of it this way.
When I was a kid (OK, really until I was 28 years old), our family went to Seaside Park for vacation. You’d be on the beach and it was comfortable. However, as soon as I walked over the dunes and down from the boardwalk, the air was still. It immediately became hotter. It would literally be hottest in the middle of the island, only three or four blocks wide.
That’s where the most amount of roadways, housing and businesses were. That’s the urban heat island effect.
Two hundred years ago, the barrier islands were barren. Temperatures were about the same from the water’s edge to the center of the island, all of which was barren of development.
How does this relate to climate change?
The urban heat island amplifies the warming seen since the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s. However, it doesn’t impact global climate change, for the most part. The land area of the urban heat island is so small compared to the Earth, that it doesn’t significantly impact the warming seen across the globe.
New Jersey is tied for the third fastest warming state in the country since 1970, Climate Central says. There’s been a 3.5-degree increase in annual temperatures since then. The national average is 2.5 degrees.
It’s not just temperatures either. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. The average amount of rain that falls in an hour has increased up to 10% since 1970, the National Centers for Environmental Information reports.
Per year in Atlantic County, trees avoided 226 million gallons of storm runoff, absorbed 18 million pounds of air pollution and removed 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide, Climate Central says. The trees also reduce the Urban Heat Island impacts.
I’m often asked about climate change in the three dozen or so talks I do a year in the state. Climate change isn’t a religion, you don’t believe in it or not. There are facts and forecasts and how we choose to think about that reality is where your beliefs come in. That’s not my job.
Cape May Bubble Pops, Again
For the second time in two weeks, Cape May County was the state’s epicenter for torrential, heavy rainfall. July 12-13, Friday into Saturday, saw a plume of tropical moisture move onshore from the south.
The result was a strip of heavy rain from Cape May on north to Toms River and Point Pleasant. Generally, Cape May County picked up between 3 and 7 inches of rain. Woodbine picked up 7.09 inches of rain, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That’s historic. I noted on X that this much rain during this time has roughly a 2.5% chance of happening in a year.
Egg Harbor City, in Atlantic County, was soaked in 4.30 inches of rain. Egg Harbor Township, Northfield and Galloway all picked up over 2.0 inches of rain.
On June 29-30, upper Cape May County was drenched with three or more inches of rain also. It looks like the infamous Cape May Bubble, which does keep the county drier and less stormy than the rest of the state, has taken a few weekends off.
Closing Notes
Last weekend’s shore weather was my first grade below a ‘B’ in my 7th Shore Summer Weekend Weather Report Card. I went with a ‘C’. Friday’s soggy, wet day was a poor start. Saturday wound up gloomy until late in the day, too. Sunday had morning fog, but wound up nice for the South Jersey shoreline. However, in Monmouth County, the afternoon was a near washout.
As the first half of the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day end, 2024 has a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 so far. That’s a ‘B’. Typically, our second half has better weather and earns better grade than the first half. So, look for that GPA to rise in the weekends ahead.
Joe earned his Meteorology Degree from Rutgers University. He is approved by the American Meteorological Society as a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and Certified Digital Meteorologist, the only one in the state with both. He’s won 10 New Jersey Press Association Awards. You can find him on social media @joemartwx
