Cold/Wind Chill in Middlesex, New Jersey

The high pressure system responsible for third and last arctic blast of the month of February arrived in New Jersey on the morning of the 24th. Unlike the two previous arctic outbreaks earlier this month, this one was not accompanied by strong winds during the first half of the day. Air and wind chill temperatures were nearly the same. The calm conditions and snow cover combined to give many locations in northwest New Jersey the coldest morning of the winter season and comparably cold to the 20th and 21st weather in the rest of the state. Morning low temperatures averaged 25 to 35 degrees colder than normal.

The unseasonably cold weather claimed the life of an 80-year-old man who was also suffering from dementia in Metuchen (Middlesex County). The cold also caused the cancellation of the first two departures of the Cape May-Lewes Ferry on the 25th after ice formed on the Ferry's bow thruster.

Actual low temperatures included 19 degrees below zero in Walpack (Sussex County), 15 degrees below zero in Sussex (Sussex County), 14 degrees below zero in Kingwood (Hunterdon County), 13 degrees below zero in Basking Ridge (Somerset County), 9 degrees below zero in Blairstown (Warren County) and Morristown (Morris County), 6 degrees below zero in Hillsborough (Somerset County), zero in Trenton (Mercer County), New Brunswick (Middlesex County) and Howell (Monmouth County), 1 degree above zero in Toms River (Ocean County), 2 degrees above zero in South Harrison (Gloucester County) and Lumberton (Burlington County), 4 degrees above zero at the Atlantic City International Airport, Cherry Hill (Camden County), Oceanport (Monmouth County) and Woodstown (Salem County), 5 degrees above zero in Millville (Cumberland County) and Seaside Heights (Ocean County), 6 degrees above zero in Woodbine (Cape May County), 8 degrees above zero in Atlantic City (Atlantic County) and 9 degrees above zero in Cape May (Cape May County). The low temperature of zero at Trenton (Mercer County) matched February 20th for the coldest low of the season.

The multiple arctic intrusions in New Jersey made this month one of the coldest Februaries on record. Since 1895, this February ranked as the 6th coldest on record with an average statewide temperature of 22.3 degrees (11.2 degrees below average). At the Atlantic City International Airport, the February mean temperature of 24.4 degrees (10.9 degrees below average) was the 4th coldest February on record and the coldest since 1979 (21.6 degrees). In Trenton (Mercer County), the February mean temperature of 22.7 degrees was 11.3 degrees below average.