Check out these NOAA national images, which show large disparities:

Source: NOAA

I just took another look at it from our newsroom window at the Asbury Park Press in Neptune. Kudos to my colleague, Shannon Mullen, for pointing it out to me.

A halo is "any of a variety of bright circles or arcs centered on the sun or moon," according to the National Weather Service.

"It's caused by the refraction or reflection of light by ice crystals suspended in the earth's atmosphere" and its colors range from red inside to blue outside.

Here are some photos I took outside our office:

The figures were 121.1 million metric tons in 2000 and 115.4 million metric tons in 2010, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

But emissions in the Garden State grew by 4.5 percent from 2009 to 2010, according to the EIA report, which compares states' emissions.

Emissions from energy use increased in most states during that year because the nation was recovering from the recession, according to the EIA.

Carbon dioxide is the leading greenhouse gas linked to climate change, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

A warming trend in the Mount Everest region has led to shrinking glaciers, according to an American Geophysical Union statement today.

Mount Everest et al (Source: NASA)

It's now a beautiful 80-degree day in many parts of the state, but it's chilly along much of the Jersey Shore. And we may get showers and thunderstorms later.

BTW, did two days of rain quench the Garden State's thirst?

Check out these graphics and photos:

Temperatures at 1 p.m. today (Source: New Jersey Weather and Climate Network)

Source: Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center

A snapping turtle sunning in Lawrence Brook in South Brunswick

The snapping turtle

Lawrence Brook at Davidson's Mill Pond Park in South Brunswick

A farm field in Monroe, Middlesex County

A lone tree stands watch over a farm in Central Jersey

The farm

But the rain in the past two days may have reversed the trend, at least temporarily.

And we're expected to get more rain within the next few days, according to the National Weather Service.

Check out these graphics:

Source: U.S. Drought Monitor

Source: Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center

Source: N.J. Department of Environmental Protection

Decades-old nitrate-laden groundwater is entering the stream and high nitrate levels "may be sustained for decades to come, regardless of current practices," according to the U.S. Geological Survey study.

The long lag time means that changes in or stopping the use of nitrogen-based fertilizer, the typical source of nitrate, may take decades to be fully observed, according to a USGS statement.

Does that mean changes in the use of fertilizer around Barnegat Bay and other New Jersey waterways and water bodies will take decades to have an effect?

The final phase in New Jersey's 2011 fertilizer law, which limits the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in fertilizer, took effect this spring.

Plants need nitrogen and phosphorus to grow, but too much fertilizer can harm lawns and result in excessive algae and weeds in waterways, according to the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection.

A woolly red algae, a tubular algae and sea lettuce from Little Egg Harbor (file photo by Kirk Moore)

Meanwhile, the Garden State was drier than usual, with precipitation averaging 1.34 inches below normal, according to a summary by David A. Robinson, the climatologist and geography professor at Rutgers University

Not too many wildfires erupted because the precip was distributed across the weeks, according to the summary.

Rain is expected this week, according to a tweet by Gary Szatkowski, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service Mount Holly Office.

So far this year, precipitation has averaged 11.94 inches in the state, making it the 28th driest start in 119 years, according to the summary.

Reservoir levels are near average, while short-term stream flow and groundwater levels are somewhat below average, the summary says.

April lacked (observed) accumulating snow and, assuming none falls this month, the state saw an average of 20.8 inches this winter, the summary says. It was the 72nd snowiest in 119 winter seasons.

Here are a map that shows the impact of a sea breeze on April 10 and a rainfall projection for this week:

Source: New Jersey Weather & Climate Network via the Office of the New Jersey State Climatologist

Source: National Weather Service via Gary Szatkowski

The nation lost 84,100 acres of coastal wetlands between 2004 and 2009 - triple the loss from 1998 to 2004, according to the report by Restore America's Estuaries, the American Sportfishing Association and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Without action to protect and restore habitat, the trend will worsen as a result of climate change and sea level rise, the "More Habitat Means More Fish" report says.

Coasts and estuaries provide vital habitat for more than three-quarters of the nation’s commercial fish catch and 80 to 90 percent of the recreational catch, according to the report.

Commercial and recreational saltwater fishing generated more than $199 billion in sales and supported 1.7 million jobs in the U.S. in 2011, according to the report.

The report recommends:

- Restoring migratory passages upstream for fish such as sturgeon, salmon and river herring.

- Building oyster shell reefs, which increase fish and blue crab populations.

- Protecting and restoring marshes and seagrasses, which provide shelter and food for many important fish species.

- Creating sheltered spaces, such as ponds, for young fish.

The American Littoral Society is restoring an oyster reef in Barnegat Bay, among other efforts aimed at restoring habitat, according to Tim Dillingham, executive director.

Restored habitats such as oyster reefs, natural shorelines and tidal marshes can help enhance resilience to storms, Dillingham said in an email.

Debris from superstorm Sandy in a marsh in Stafford (file photo by Tom Spader)

An egret in wetlands in Harvey Cedars (file photo by Peter Ackerman)

It's like watching a 3-D movie.

Check it out:

Source: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

A new study suggests that global warming will boost the risks of severe floods and droughts in some areas around the planet.

Both NASA and the American Geophysical Union have issued releases on the study. NASA has also posted a simulation on the issue.

Here's an interesting graphic that shows where heavy, moderate, light and no rain may occur:

Source: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio