Heat — Western Monmouth, New Jersey

2006-08-01 to 2006-08-03 · Western Monmouth, New Jersey

Wider weather episode

A strong area of high pressure anchored over the East Coast and the western Atlantic, resulted in a stretch of excessive heat for the entire region to start off August 2006. The very hot air mass was accompanied by humid conditions as the dew points surged into the upper 60s and lower 70s for a time. It could have been worse, but the dew points lowered a little bit for most areas during the afternoon hours as the sunshine dried the air mass out for a time. Temperatures during August 1st through the 3rd soared well into the 90s with some areas topping the century mark. Trenton topped out at 97 degrees on August 3rd, and Atlantic City topped out at 98 degrees on both August 2nd and 3rd, which either tied or broke the record high temperature for both days. The very hot weather even made it to the Shore as the Cape May Coast Guard Station topped out at 94 degrees on August 3rd. The combination of temperatures well into the 90s and moderate to high humidity pushed heat indices into the 105 to 110 degree range across the state.The excessive heat and humidity had an impact on the power companies as fans and air conditioners were humming. New Jersey's largest utility company, Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G), asked customers to conserve energy as a precautionary step on August 1st. The utility reported an all-time peak electricity demand record with 11,001 megawatts of power. The previous record high was 10,780 megawatts set on July 27, 2005. Out of PSE&G's 2.1 million customers, about 2,200 around the state lost power on the morning of August 2nd due to stress on the system. On August 2nd, PSE&G recorded a new record demand of 11,146 megawatts, surpassing the record set just one day previously, and more than 4,000 customers statewide lost power. About 1,900 JCP&L customers in the Glendola section of Wall (Monmouth County), New Jersey lost power for nearly seven hours on August 1st after a cable failed. At 4 PM EDT on August 1st, about 1.1 million JCP&L customers broke the company's record for electrical usage by hitting 6,548 megawatts. The previous record of 6,444 megawatts was set at 5 PM EDT on July 18, 2006. This record was bested on August 2nd when 6,680 megawatts of power was used, setting an all-time peak for JCP&L. A total of 500 customers in Lakewood (Ocean County), New Jersey lost power from 4 PM EDT to 8:30 PM EDT on August 1st after an underground cable failed, which caused stores to shut down early. The problem seemed to be contained to the shopping district. Police in Oceanport (Monmouth County), New Jersey reported sporadic blackouts throughout the borough on August 1st, starting around 7:30 PM EDT. On August 1st in Lake Como, New Jersey, 40 to 50 homes on Fernwood Road had power knocked out due to fuses on roadside electrical poles tripping after 3 PM EDT. An electric pole actually caught fire at 18th Avenue and Newman Street, though nothing serious resulted from the fire. On August 1st in Medford (Burlington County), New Jersey, the near 100-degree temperatures caused an old propane tank to rupture behind a North Main Street home. The tank was removed and replaced, with no injuries reported.Atlantic City Electric reached a new peak usage at 4 PM EDT on August 1st with 2,925 megawatts, breaking the July 27, 2005 record of 2,838 megawatts. The record usage was tied by customers at 4 PM EDT on August 2nd. Sporadic power outages occurred on August 2nd in Belmar (Monmouth County), New Jersey, resulting in about 20 homes losing power for about two hours. Residents of Spring Lake Heights (Monmouth County) on the west side of town and on the 600 block of Mercer Avenue lost power on August 1st and August 2nd. The outages affected small pockets of residents for several hours during the evening and overnight hours of August 1st, and several people were treated on the boardwalk for heat exhaustion. August 2nd, power outages at 2:30 PM EDT on North Main Street, and on August 1st the traffic lights on North Main Street and Atlantic Avenue went out at 3:20 PM EDT, and that evening several other traffic lights went out. Electricity demand in Vineland (Cumberland County), New Jersey set a record on August 2nd, reaching 162 megawatts, topping the peak on August 1st of 161.5 megawatts. On August 2nd, 5,400 Gloucester County, New Jersey residents lost power when a sub-station failure shut off power to people in the Woodbury area around 3 PM EDT. The failure knocked out traffic lights and closed stores. About 5,000 Middletown and Keansburg (both Monmouth County) residents were without power for several hours on August 2nd because of a blown fuse at a Keansburg substation. Customers in the West Keansburg section of Hazlet also lost power. Traffic lights along Route 36 from Keansburg to Middletown's Leonardo section went out for about an hour around 3:30 PM EDT. Rockland Electric, which serves parts of Sussex County, had 12 customers without power on August 3rd. The utility broke two records, August 1st with 1,586 megawatts and August 2nd with 1,617 megawatts. Water Utility New Jersey American Water asked customers to immediately begin conserving water on August 2nd in seven Atlantic County towns as the excessive heat and dry weather led to a record high water usage. The conservation request affected 115,096 residents in Pleasantville, Northfield, Linwood, Somers Point, Absecon, Galloway Township and Egg Harbor Township.Two people were treated on August 2nd for heat-related aliments at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton, New Jersey, and one person was treated at Capital Health Systems at Mercer Hospital in Trenton, New Jersey. A total of 35 people suffered from heat-related injuries in Belmar on August 2nd, however none were reported to be serious. At Lourdes Health Systems' hospitals in Camden and Willingboro, there were two cases of heat-related illness in Camden on August 1st and two in Willingboro on August 2nd; all involving older people. Animals also suffered during the excessive heat. Three dogs in a Cape May County Animal shelter suffered heat-related seizures on August 2nd. In early August, a massive fish kill occurred in New Market Lake in Piscataway, New Jersey. The cause, resulting from tests, ruled that the fish were deprived of lake oxygen, a situation brought about by the excessive heat.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5529349. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.