Drought and Heat Waves Aren’t Just for Summer Anymore

New Jersey has ordered fire restrictions throughout the entire state amid worsening drought and a spike in forest fires. On Oct. 17, New Jersey’s Governor Phil Murphy issued a Drought Watch, urging residents and businesses to voluntarily conserve water as persistent dry and warmer-than-average conditions continue to stress the state’s water supplies. New Jersey has experienced below-average precipitation during four of the last five months, while at the same time temperatures have remained above average over the same period. Rainfall across New Jersey has been 2 inches to 7 inches below normal over the past 90 days.

As of Oct. 21, New Jersey has experienced 917 fires, including four classified as major fires which burned in excess of 100 acres, NJ.com reported. Fall fire season in New Jersey typically runs from mid-October through mid-November, but it ramped up earlier than usual this year because of the long stretches of warm and extremely dry weather.

Additionally, this fall the Southwest has been dealing with unseasonably warm temperatures 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit above average, NBC News reported. Phoenix on Tuesday snapped a streak of 21 straight days of record-breaking, triple-digit highs from Sept. 24 to Oct. 19. This summer was already the hottest on record in Phoenix, and 2024 is likely to end up as the warmest year in the city’s recorded history.

Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, confirmed 429 heat-related deaths as of Oct. 19, with 241 more under investigation, according to county records. Last year, the county reported a record high 645 heat-related deaths.

The heat is finally expected to break for the rest of Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico heading into the weekend, as a cold front brings cooler conditions. Heat waves are expected to start earlier in the year and last later because of climate change, but Phoenix’s streak still surprised scientists.

The Weather Channel also reported this October has been one of the driest for dozens of cities as no measurable rain has been recorded in parts of the East and South for the month. For October, the only U.S. areas that have seen a soaking east of the Rockies are Florida from Hurricane Milton, which made landfall Oct. 9; Roswell, New Mexico, which saw major flooding from nearly 6 inches of record rainfall last weekend, and parts of the Pacific Northwest.