August marked the 14th month in the past 15 with statewide temperatures above the long-term average. Only last December was on the below average side of the ledger. The 75.3° average of this 8th month was 2.5° on the warm side of average and ranked as the 9th warmest August of the past 111 years (since 1895). This came on the heels of the 4th warmest July on record. The first week of August was the warmest, with the thermometer at many locations, even right up to the beaches, approaching or reaching the century mark. A cool last week of the month kept this year from ranking closer to the record warmth of last August, which was 2.1° warmer than this year.

The last week of the month also kept precipitation totals from achieving a record low. Up through the 24th, on average less than 0.75” had fallen across NJ, thus the record minimum of 0.90” in 1964 was threatened. However you have to wait 31 days to complete an August total and abundant rains fell from the 25th through 29th. Enough accumulated to end the month with a statewide average of 3.25”. This left August 2006 as the 32nd driest on record, only 1.31” below average. The northern tier of counties was wettest, averaging 0.5” to almost 2.0” above average. Central and coastal (Atlantic and Delaware Bay) counties caught the least rain, averaging 1.5” to 2.4” below average. A remarkably rapid green up of non-irrigated lawns occurred as a result of the late month rains and cooler temperatures.