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    • New Jersey declares drought warning, urges residents to reduce water use
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    New Jersey declares drought warning, urges residents to reduce water use

    Umito Posted on

    The summary

    • New Jersey’s governor issued a drought warning Wednesday.
    • State officials said the state is experiencing some of the driest conditions in nearly 120 years, causing an increase in wildfires.
    • The extreme dry spell is part of a broader drought hitting the Northeast.

    New Jersey’s governor issued a drought warning Wednesday and said the state could implement mandatory water restrictions if conditions worsen.

    A record a dry spell led to the driest conditions New Jersey has seen in nearly 120 years, causing a staggering increase in number of forest firesstate officials said at a news conference.

    The New Jersey Wildfire Service has responded to 537 fires since early October, which have burned thousands of acres, Gov. Phil Murphy said. That’s 500 more fires than the same time last year, he said.

    Murphy urged residents to take the drought warning seriously and voluntarily reduce their water use.

    “Each of us must do everything we can to save water,” he said.

    Tim Eustace, executive director of the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission, said he believes the state did not go far enough and should have declared a drought emergency, which is usually comes with restrictions on non-essential use of outdoor water.

    “I have always been opposed to using potable water to water your lawns. It’s a crazy waste of resources,” Eustace said.

    Its commission provides water to about a third of New Jersey, and its main reservoir, Wanaque Reservoir, was at 45% capacity Wednesday.

    Wanaque Reservoir is still filled with water but mostly dry land
    The Wanaque Reservoir in Ringwood, NJ, Monday.Ted Shaffrey/AP

    The Manasquan Reservoir, another major reservoir in the state, was at 51 percent capacity, and the Passaic River — which provides drinking water — was at about 14 percent of its normal level, although that’s still enough to meet demand, officials said.

    New Jersey American Water, which serves about 2.9 million people in the state, issued a conservation advisory to its customers Wednesday. The company described the notice as “mandatory” to express urgency, but it has no enforcement authority against violators, said Mark McDonough, president of New Jersey American Water.

    “We would like you to limit yourself if you can, but I don’t have the authority to issue tickets or go door to door asking people if they are watering their lawns,” McDonough said. “We can make a huge impact if we get our customers focused on water conservation. »

    Murphy said winter forecasts call for drier weather, although the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s forecast seasonal forecast above average temperatures with equal chances of precipitation above or below average levels.

    The dry conditions plaguing New Jersey are part of a broader drought in the northeast. In October, cities like Newark, New Jersey; Wilmington, Delaware; and Norfolk, Virginia, recorded no rain, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Centerwhich collects rainfall data across the country. Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., set records for the number of consecutive days without measurable precipitation.

    Across the United States, the month of October was one of the driest months on recordaccording to NOAA. US Drought Monitor data indicates that more than half of the continental United States is experiencing some level of drought, including 56% of the Northeast.

    In New Jersey, rain is generally evenly distributed throughout the months, said state climatologist Dave Robinson. But some areas have not received measurable precipitation for 40 days, the first time since records began about 150 years ago.

    “We’ve had longer droughts before, but in terms of the exceptional nature of the dry weather, we haven’t seen anything like this,” Robinson said.

    He said New Jersey often gets a dose of heavy rain in October due to remnants of hurricanes or tropical storms or Nor’easters — low pressure systems that develop in the mid-Atlantic.

    This fall, “we were shut out” in both cases, Robinson said. Instead, a ridge of high pressure has been parked over New Jersey and other parts of the Northeast for weeks.

    “There is no major storm to hit this ridge in the chest and knock it out. It’s been a slow and exasperating process,” Robinson said. “There are signs that the central part of the country, which was quite dry, is becoming wetter. …It appears to be moving slowly eastward.

    So far, November is the 12th consecutive month in New Jersey with above-average temperatures. A warmer atmosphere can both worsen drought and increase the likelihood of extreme precipitation.

    “With a more energetic and warmer climate system, you can trap more moisture in the atmosphere. … If you can’t harness that moisture source, you’ll end up with warmer conditions that can exacerbate drying and lead to more drought,” Robinson said. “The system has become more variable.”

    Given persistent dry weather in New Jersey since mid-August, ending the drought would require several months of at least average precipitation, if not much more, said Shawn LaTourette, the state’s environmental protection commissioner. State.

    About a quarter of an inch of rain fell in some areas Sunday, but Murphy said it was “nowhere near enough.”

    A fire burns in a forest at night with a police car next to the scene
    Firefighters respond to a wildfire in Evesham, New Jersey on November 6.New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection via AP

    New Jersey last declared a drought emergency in March 2002 and lifted it in January 2003. The state’s last drought warning was in 2016 and lasted more than six months, LaTourette said.

    Greg McLaughlin, administrator of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service’s Bureau of Forestry and Natural Lands, said that on a scale measuring the dryness of materials on the forest floor, conditions reached 748 out of 800.

    “These numbers have never been seen by the wildland fire service in our 118-year history,” McLaughlin said. “The impact of this drought on wildfires cannot be overstated. »

    The Jennings Creek Fire, along the New York-New Jersey border, continued to burn Wednesday and was about 30% contained. It burned at least 5,000 acres in both states. On Saturday, an 18-year-old New York Parks employee was killed by falling tree while battling the fire in Orange County, New York.

    “We are incredibly grateful for his service and his willingness to protect the people of New York and New Jersey from these deadly fires,” Murphy said.

    Umito
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