and while Texans battle the aftermath of the storm here in New Jersey the big weather story is the high heat cooking the Garden State over the last week we've already seen temperatures into the high 90s with the real field temps hovering around triple digits according to a new state- of the climate report just released by Ruckers University last summer was the third hottest on record and temperatures will continue to rise in the coming years now the high Heats cause cities like Newark to issue a code red encouraging residents to stay out of the Heat and stay hydrated and the latest forecast show those temperatures won't be dropping anytime soon I'm joined Now by David Robinson New Jersey state climatologist to discuss these latest weather patterns and the new state-of the climate report David great to have you on the show tonight tell me what are the dangers that come with high temperatures like we're seeing right now both for humans and for the environment yeah we we're in a really tough stretch now we just went through the second warmest June on record in New Jersey with records back to 1895 and and with that it's persisted into July and it's not as they say it's not just the heat it's the humidity and that's a real health hazard where our bodies have a difficult time ridding themselves of heat particularly when the humidity levels are high we don't we perspire but that pers perspiration doesn't evaporate people may not realize that evaporation removes heat so people can get into stress pretty quickly and you often hear about the young the infirmed and the elderly being susceptible to heat but we have to remember the people that are out there working in the heat all day construction agriculture uh police officers and so on so all of us have to be careful and for goodness sake don't go out and exercise in the middle of the afternoon do it in the morning if you can yeah good advice not everyone listens as we can attest to seeing people out there running uh in the sometimes the peak of the heat but when it comes to the environment we we've been reporting on this Wharton state forest fire what is the risk of wildfire when we reach these temperatures close to Triple digits yeah it doesn't help because we get back to that term evaporation again um and and we need rainfall at this time of the year we need timely rainfalls as much as we need abundant rainfall because things can dry out very quickly now generally in New Jersey the greatest fire threat from wildfires is in the spring when you have litter on the floor from the previous fall um the leaves aren't on the trees yet um and so on and when you get into the summer you also get some more humidity so the humidity actually helps a little bit in that regard in keeping conditions a little more moist but when you get those high temperatures and if you get the wind blowing um and you don't get your weekly storms coming through the area with a shower or a thunderstorm you're in a heap of big trouble pretty quickly so Dave you helped to co-author this report just released by Ruckers University it's called the state of the climate 2023 it points to some really uh alarming statistics might not seem alarming to the average person New Jersey has increased in temperature by 4 degrees since 1900 that's one key point I saw the report makes the connection between these Rising temperatures and broader health concerns for the population make that connection for us yeah I mean with those Rising temperatures and we are rising at a pace almost twice that as other parts of the country um for a variety of reasons that are known and still being worked on um you're you're dealing with that added heat which is directly affecting your body but you also have to start thinking about invasive species species that can come in uh and bring disease with them that in the past maybe couldn't make it through a cold Jersey winter and now they're able to survive a winter and also persist longer from earlier Springs warmth to later fall warmth so a longer season to be exposed and potentially new diseases that could be Expo you could be exposed to and just a few seconds left uh greater connection to things like asthma and heart attack yeah I mean you're talking air quality when you get under these heat ridges with subsiding air and not much wind blowing um you can get into very stagnant air uh situations the sun is a chemical promotes chemical reactions of these releases from um from Power stations from Automobiles and trucks and so on yeah great information David Robinson State climatologist you always make it really simple to understand thank you my pleasure [Music]