Heat — Camden, New Jersey

1997-07-13 to 1997-07-18 · Camden, New Jersey

Wider weather episode

The longest and hottest heat wave of the summer of 1997 brought up to 8 straight days of high temperatures of 90 degrees or higher to interior sections of New Jersey and 6 straight days at and near the shore. It was the longest heat wave for central New Jersey since 1993. Along with the oppressive heat came high humidity levels and limited rainfall. The heat wave started to end after a strong cold front moved through the region early on the 19th. In spite of lowering humidity levels, high temperatures on the 19th still made it into the lower 90s across the far southern and southeastern part of the state. There were heat related illnesses reported in Camden and Morris Counties, and probably other heat related problems throughout the state. The most serious heat related illnesses occurred in Camden where three elderly men were hospitalized because of heat exhaustion. The hottest day for most areas was the 15th as high temperatures were in the mid 90s in the northwest and coastal parts of the state and around 100 degrees elsewhere. This was also the day that many utilities set new usage records. The Pennsylvania-Jersey-Maryland Interconnection (PJM) reported a record usage of 49,822 megawatts in their regional serving area. This surpassed the previous record of 48,524 megawatts set on August 2, 1995. Other utility setting records included Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) with 9,612 megawatts (old record 9,470 megawatts set on 8/2/95) and GPU with 4,880 megawatts (old record 4,880 megawatts set on 8/9/95).The highest temperatures during this heat wave included 101 degrees in Belle Mead (Somerset County) and Wrightstown (Burlington County), 100 degrees in Freehold (Monmouth County) and Millville (Cumberland County), 99 degrees in Toms River (Ocean County), Iselin (Middlesex County) and Glassboro (Gloucester County), 98 degrees in Chatham (Morris County), Long Branch (Monmouth County), the Atlantic City International Airport and Flemington (Hunterdon County), 97 degrees in Somerdale (Camden County), 96 degrees at the Cape May Courthouse, 95 degrees in Stewartsville (Warren County) and 94 degrees in Sussex and the Atlantic City Marina. The lack of rain continued to stress crops and water supplies. It also put the New Jersey Forest Fire Service on a higher state of alert, especially between the Raritan and Mullica Rivers. In Morris County, 21 communities had mandatory or voluntary water restrictions in effect. The New Jersey American Water Company had mandatory restrictions in effect to all their customers in Morris, Somerset and Warren Counties. Water restrictions were also in effect in a few communities in Burlington and Middlesex Counties.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5614369. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.