Green Jersey

New Jersey busts temperature records

Today’s warm weather broke records, and not by a little:

In Newark, today’s high of 69 degrees broke the old mark of 59, set in 1938, said Jim Eberwine, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Mount Holly office. The mercury reached 71 in Trenton, besting the 64-degree record set in 1938, and 72 in Atlantic City, where the previous high was 63, set in 1965, he said.

Also heating up were New York City - which registered a high of 68 in Central Park - and Philadelphia, where 68-degree temperatures were the highest since 1884…

Normal high temperatures for this time of year are around 41 degrees in Newark, with a low of 24.

The warm front was responsible for yesterday’s tornadoes, not global warming, according to tornado experts via The New York Times. Still, we’re way up on tornado sightings nationwide:

Just five weeks into 2008, there have been more than 200 tornado sightings nationwide; compared to 59 in an average year. Not only is this an active start to the season, but a deadly one as well. In all of last year, 81 people were killed in tornados; this year that number is already up to 57.

Scary.