September is a transition month between summer and fall, and conditions around New Jersey reflected both seasons this year. The first two-thirds of the month were dominated by a similar weather pattern carried over from August. A large area of high pressure over the eastern third of the United States brought warm conditions that were periodically interrupted by frontal passages and heavy rain events. The pattern shifted in the final third of the month, as a blocking area of high pressure over Canada and a slow-moving nor’easter influenced weather across the state. The onshore flow brought significant rounds of tidal flooding and severe beach erosion to the Jersey shore, along with copious amounts of rainfall along the coast.

Drought conditions across New Jersey continued to improve steadily during September. A heavy rainfall event in mid-September reinforced improvements that already occurred in the northern half of the state this summer, while the northeastern brought much-needed rain relief to coastal portions of Atlantic, Cape May, and Cumberland counties. The US Drought Monitor (USDM), issued during the final week of September, showed only a few pockets of abnormally dry conditions near the Pine Barrens and in coastal South Jersey, reflecting long-term groundwater deficits. This marked the first time since the middle of August 2025 that no part of New Jersey was classified in drought status in the USDM.

Click here to see the distribution of the top 5 NJ warm/cold and wet/dry months since 1895