Monmouth County Information

Climate

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration takes weather data on a regular basis atlocations within Long Branch and Freehold.

The climate of Monmouth County in general is temperate humid and is characterized by warm summers and moderate winters. The climate of Long Branch is classified as maritime with considerable influence from the Atlantic Ocean. Freehold's climate, on the other hand, is classified as continental with only minor influence from the Atlantic Ocean. At both these stations the summer temperatures seldom exceed 100 degrees F but frequently reach into the 90's from late May until early September. Winter readings at both stations rarely drop below 0 degrees F. The mean annual temperature for Monmouth County is 53 degrees F.

The mean number of degree-days (a measure of the departure of the mean daily temperature below 65 degrees F) for Long Branch is 5183 while for Freehold it is 5235. The daily totals are accumulated from July 1st to June 30th and vary greatly from year to year. The accumulated degree-days may be used as an index (at any time during the season) of the effect of past temperatures upon the consumption of power for the heating of homes and places of business. The degree-days for the period July 1, 1997-June 30, 1998 were 3,691. This is the lowest number of degreedays recorded in the past ten years. We will attempt to correlate these data into projections for the 1999 mosquito-breeding season.

The hottest day of record for Long Branch was 106 degrees F in July 1936 and the coldest day was -12 degrees F in February 1934. For Freehold the records of high and low temperature were also 106 degrees F in July 1936 and -20 degrees F in February 1934.

In the Long Branch area the average growing season is 199 days in length, from April 13 to October 29. Temperatures of 32 degrees F or less have been recorded as late as April 30th in the spring and as early as October 4th in the fall. In the Freehold area the growing season averages 178 days in length from April 23rd to October 18th. Temperatures of 32 degrees F or less have been recorded as late as May 17th and as early as September 24th in the fall.

Precipitation in Monmouth County ranges from 45 to 47 inches a year. In Long Branch the average is 45 inches and in Freehold 46 inches a year. The heaviest rainfall amounts Countywide normally occur during the summer months. A drought that lasted from September 1961 through August 1966 was one of the most significant departures from normal precipitation in recent years.

Snowfall on a countywide basis averages around 25 to 26 inches a season. The maximum monthly amount of snow on record for Long Branch was 32.9 inches in December 1947. For Freehold the maximum month of record was December 1957 when 26 inches of snow fell. In the period 1941-1970 the maximum year snowfall for Long Branch was 64.2 inches in the 1947-1948 season. For Freehold the maximum year snowfall was 66.9 inches in the 1957-1958 season. At both stations the majority of snow falls between the months of December and March inclusive, although snow has fallen on all months from October through May inclusive.

Although destructive storms are infrequent in Monmouth County, summer thunderstorms occasionally combine high winds with heavy rainfall, and heavy rains have occurred in connection with hurricanes, which move northward along the mid-Atlantic coast. Additionally, a considerable portion of our summer and autumn rainfall comes from tropical storms that pass near the New Jersey Coast.

The Monmouth County Mosquito Extermination Commission staff will continue to closely monitor climatic conditions to determine their impact on mosquito breeding and the potential for mosquitoes from more tropical areas becoming prevalent as an effect of global warming.

Weather data for both Long Branch and Freehold for 1998 reflect a total rainfall from March 1, 1998 to October 26, 1998 of 33.88 inches in Freehold and 37.62 inches in Long Branch. Although these departures reflect above normal precipitation, they do not reflect the severity of the fluctuation from wet to dry. During the months of July, August, September and October the lack of rainfall created near drought conditions and resulted in a total growing season departure from normal of 3.25 inches and 6.59 inches respectively, after reaching. 13.01 inches and 9.62 inches by June 22.1998.

During 1998 the New Jersey Water Supply Authority in conjunction with the Monmouth County Parks and Recreation Commission utilized the services of the South Jersey Resource and Development Council to obtain a new weather station for Monmouth County. This station located at the Manasquan Reservoir will provide weather data to assist this agency on a real-time basis.

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Monmouth County Mosquito Extermination Commission
PO Box 162 • Eatontown • New Jersey • 07724
(Tel) 732-542-3630 • (Fax) 732-542-3267
mosquitoes@co.monmouth.nj.us