NJ's climatologist: Higher temperatures due to human-induced global warming

NEW JERSEY (PIX11) -- With temperatures in New Jersey feeling like the triple digits Monday, PIX11 News spoke to New Jersey’s State Climatologist, Dr. David Robinson, who has been studying weather trends for decades.

Robinson has been in the job for 33 years and is the longest-serving state climatologist on record in the country. He also teaches at Rutgers University.

Robinson said a typical July in New Jersey has highs in the mid-to-upper 80s, but the norm has changed since 2010.

“Nine of our 11 warmest summers have been since 2010,” said Robinson.

“We’re getting warmer earlier in the season and staying warmer earlier into the fall,” he explained. “It’s really the persistence of the warmth day after day, week after week. And even within a day, there’s more persistence. We’re not getting as cool at night because there’s more humidity in the air, and it’s more difficult to rid yesterday’s heat out into space.”

Robinson said the cause of the higher temperatures is clear.

“The vast majority of it is attributable to human-induced global warming,” said Robinson. “That’s irrefutable.”

Robinson said New Jersey is on pace to have one of the top 10 hottest Julys on record.

“One can expect that the records that we’re breaking in the last year, we’re going to look back on fondly 10 to 20 years from now because they are going to be broken multiple times down the road,” said Robinson.

In the midst of the latest heat wave, major cities, including Newark and Paterson, are opening cooling centers. Paterson’s public library branches are doubling as cooling centers during business hours and also distributing free water. In Newark, a Code Red is in effect through Wednesday night.

Robinson said the beach is the absolute best place to be in the heat if possible because the hottest atmospheric temperatures result in the coolest ocean temperatures.

“In warm atmospheric Julys, there tend to be southerly winds that help to push the surface waters offshore, that allow cold waters to what we call ‘upwell’ from below,” said Robinson. “The beach is absolutely the best place to be.”