While average annual temperatures across the country have risen about 2.5 degrees since 1970, annual temperatures in New Jersey have risen about 3.5 degrees, said Lauren Casey, a meteorologist at Climate Central, the nonprofit that collected the temperature data.
According to the group’s findings, New Jersey is the third fastest warming state in the country.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Environmental Protection, which a report published in 2020, which also noted the state’s rapidly rising temperatures, said the state is warming faster than its neighbors because it is on the southern edge of the Northeast region and because of its built-up cities. “Importantly,” he said, “land use patterns and development density in the state create conditions that create an urban heat island effect.”
The urban heat island phenomenon describes how cities, with all their concrete and asphalt, absorb heat, making them several degrees warmer than surrounding areas. For example, Newark, the most populous city in New Jersey, can 100 degrees in the summer, while other places in the state remain around 90 degrees.
Delaware, New Jersey’s mid-Atlantic neighbor, ranks second in Climate Central’s ranking of fastest-warming states, with a 3.6-degree increase between 1970 and last year. And Alaska, which stretches into the Arctic, a region experiencing rapid loss of snow and sea ice, comes in first, with a rise of more than 4 degrees.
The Northeast has the fastest-warming cluster of states in the country, according to Climate Central data. In addition to New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are all in the top 10 (New York is No. 11). All have seen temperatures rise more than 3 degrees, warming faster than sweltering spots like Arizona and Texas.
