Well, New Jersey is bracing for another week of temperatures inching toward the triple digits.

Not even this weekend's wet weather could cool down the Garden State.

And these weather patterns are bringing lingering consequences for New Jersey in the form of drought conditions and poor air quality.

State climatologist Dave Robinson joins me again to discuss what we can expect throughout this week.

Dave, great to see you again.

We have another heat wave going on right now.

The heat index is supposed to reach about 104 degrees.

What can you tell us about this weather we're experiencing?

It just keeps coming at us.

We've had the second warmest June on record and we're on a pace for a top ten warmth, at least for the month of July.

The only good news I can give out today is that unlike recent weeks, we see at least a temporary end in sight for the extreme heat and humidity Come the end of this week into next weekend, it's going to be no more normal July weather.

What is normal?

July weather?

What should we expect?

Yeah, it's midnight.

Upper eighties for highs away from the coast.

It's nights in the sixties, maybe hugging the coast in the low seventies, a little lower humidity, just more comfortable, I guess you could say, after a very persistent pattern of warmth with very few breaks in recent weeks.

But we are not there yet.

There is a heat advisory in place right now.

We saw OSHA put out a warning for workers take more frequent breaks, make sure that they can take breaks in the cool if possible.

Any other tips for folks working outside or folks who are vulnerable?

Yeah, this is going to be a tough three days.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday are going to be the height of this.

And with it, as you mentioned, the levels of humidity are going to be there as well.

So we can't rid our bodies of heat very effectively.

And if you're in the sun, it's particularly the worse.

So get shade, take frequent breaks and hydrate yourself, and that's water.

It's not alcoholic beverages.

It's not carbonated beverages.

It's drink a lot of water.

Your body will lose water pretty quickly, even in a humid climate.

But very quickly, I think here's the key.

You can get in trouble very quickly, whether you're healthy or not.

You can get in trouble quickly with the heat index so high that it's actual thermometer readings so high.

And we know that puts folks at risk of stroke.

We know there's also some air quality concerns happening right now.

What can you tell us?

Yeah, that's always a problem when you get a stagnant air mass in this kind of weather.

You get high pressure in the air, just sinks and warms around you and it doesn't mix up the air enough to sweep away the pollutants that are produced here and work day.

New Jersey early this week.

So we're going to have to watch for that occurring.

And we're at the time in the year where the sun is still pretty high in the sky and that acts as a catalyst for these chemical reactions.

So it makes a bad situation worse.

You pump out the chemicals into a stagnant environment and then you heat them up with the sun and they become even worse.

So big problems for people and the respiratory side in particular.

And I should have said heatstroke, not stroke, puts you at risk of heatstroke.

But we know to right now there's a drought, moderate drought levels in southern and western parts of New Jersey.

What's the risk there?

What does it mean to be at a moderate drought level?

And what's the risk for especially our agriculture?

Yeah, we're we're teetering on being too dry unless you live in Cape May and Western excuse me, Eastern Cumberland County, where they've had a foot of rain in some spots since the 30th of June.

But that's isolated.

We're particularly concerned of West central Jersey, the Mercer, Northern Burlington, Burlington County area and some scattered areas around the state, all corners of the state where with this heat you're increasing evaporation levels and you'd like to see even more precipitation than normal.

And we're simply not so weak.

We are starting to be concerned about water resources.

First, it affects, as you mentioned, agriculture, your lawns and your gardens.

Eventually, if conditions really worsen, you worry about water supplies.

Right now, the supplies are fine, but we have to keep a watchful eye on things.

We will be watching very carefully.

Thanks, as always, for the insight into what's happening.

Dave Robinson, New Jersey state climatologist at Rutgers University.

Thanks that.