The Wet Bandits Strike/Warmth with Precipitation Indecision: December/Annual 2023 Report
It was a wet December, of this there is no doubt. In fact, it was New Jersey’s wettest 12th month on record, dating back to 1895. On multiple occasions, rainfall arrived in multiple-inch increments, leading to episodes of minor to major stream and river flooding. Though hardly maliciously, Mother Nature certainly left the tap flowing far too long and often!
Monthly rainfall (with a little melted snowfall added to the mix in some locations) averaged 8.20” across the state (Figure 1). This was 3.93” above the 1991–2020 normal and was 0.33” above the previous wettest December in 1996 (Table 1). Precipitation averaged 8.51” (+4.26”, 3rd wettest) in the northern climate division (Hunterdon-Somerset-Union northward), 8.02” (+3.74”, 2nd wettest) over the southern division (Mercer-Middlesex-Monmouth mostly southward), and 7.88” (+3.52”, 2nd wettest) in the coastal division (generally east of the Garden State Parkway from Monmouth to Cape May).