Excessive Heat in New Jersey, May 2 to 4, 2001

Name: Excessive Heat in New Jersey, May 2 to 4, 2001
Start: 2001-05-02T11:00
End: 2001-05-04T18:00
Location: New Jersey

May 2 to 4, 2001 · NWS PHI · 16 events in 16 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 16 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 16

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS PHI wrote it up.

A very strong ridge of high pressure both at the surface and aloft coupled with the strong early May sun helped produce unseasonably warm and even some record breaking temperatures for early May. High temperatures reached into the lower 90s on both the 3rd and the 4th. The cold Atlantic Ocean kept high temperatures around 80 degrees along the immediate shore. A cold front moved through the state during the morning of the 5th and brought considerably cooler air back to the region. Highest temperatures included 96 degrees in New Lisbon (Burlington County), 94 degrees in Chatham (Morris County) and Belle Mead (Somerset County), 93 degrees in Phillipsburg (Warren County), Sussex (Sussex County), New Brunswick (Middlesex County) and Pennsauken (Camden County), 92 degrees in Flemington (Hunterdon County), Somerville (Somerset County), Hightstown (Mercer County) and Freehold (Monmouth County), 91 degrees in Seabrook (Cumberland County), 90 degrees in Sandy Hook and Belmar (Monmouth County) and the Atlantic City International Airport. The high temperature of 89 degrees on May 3rd at the Atlantic City International Airport set a new high temperature record for the date.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 2, 1:25 AM EST, 9 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 2, 1:25 AM EST, 9 hours 35 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
225 AM EDT WED MAY 2 2001

THE RIDGE SHOULD CONTINUE TO BUILD UP OVER OUR REGION DURING TODAY
AND THURSDAY.  AS A RESULT...WE/LL SEE MORE OF THE SAME...MOSTLY
CLEAR SKIES AND WARM TEMPS.  THE HUMIDITY IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE
ONLY SLIGHTLY DURING THE NEXT TWO DAYS.  TEMPS AT 850 MB ARE
FORECAST TO BE IN THE 14C TO 15C RANGE SUGGESTING MAXIMUM TEMPS IN
THE UPPER 80S OR NEAR 90 FOR MOST OF OUR FORECAST AREA...A LITTLE
COOLER NEAR THE COAST AND IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS.  WITH THAT IN
MIND...WE/LL NEED TO CARRY A HEADLINE OF NEAR RECORD HIGH TEMPS FOR
BOTH DAYS...EXCEPT ALONG THE COAST.

WITH THE NEW MODEL GUIDANCE...THE TIMING OF THE COLD FRONT IS
GENERALLY A LITTLE SLOWER.  IT SHOULD PASS THROUGH OUR COUNTIES ON
FRIDAY NIGHT.  AS A RESULT...WE/LL ADJUST THE TIMING OF THE PRECIP A
LITTLE.  WE/LL CARRY CHANCE POPS TO THE NORTH AND WEST OF PHL FOR
FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND FOR ALL OF THE FORECAST AREA FOR FRIDAY NIGHT.

WITH THE UPPER LEVEL SHORT WAVE TROUGH NOT EXPECTED TO PASS OVER THE
FORECAST AREA UNTIL THE MID DAY HOURS ON SATURDAY...IT SEEMS
POSSIBLE THAT THERE COULD BE SOME LINGERING PRECIP ON SATURDAY
MORNING IN OUR SOUTHEASTERN ZONES.

THE ZONE FORECAST WILL BE ISSUED AT 345.

.PHI...NONE.

IOVINO

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

16 excessive heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Excessive Heat, Burlington

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Burlington forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.878, -74.668 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Camden

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Camden forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.804, -74.960 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Cumberland

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Cumberland forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.328, -75.129 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Gloucester

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Gloucester forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.717, -75.142 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Hunterdon

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Hunterdon forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.567, -74.912 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Mercer

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Mercer forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.283, -74.702 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Middlesex

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Middlesex forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.440, -74.409 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Morris

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Morris forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.862, -74.544 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Salem

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Salem forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.577, -75.358 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Somerset

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Somerset forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.564, -74.616 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Sussex

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Sussex forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.140, -74.690 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Warren

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Warren forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.857, -74.997 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Western Atlantic

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Western Atlantic forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.469, -74.634 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Western Cape May

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Western Cape May forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.085, -74.850 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Western Monmouth

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Western Monmouth forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.288, -74.158 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Western Ocean

When: May 2, 11:00 AM EST to May 4, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Western Ocean forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.866, -74.250 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Excessive Heat: Heat at or above the local excessive heat warning criteria, or heat that caused deaths.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in New Jersey in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in New Jersey, May 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5244726, 5244727, 5244728, 5244729, 5244730, 5244731, 5244732, 5244733, 5244734, 5244735, 5244736, 5244737, 5244738, 5244739, 5244740, 5244741.