If you spent last year griping about how much rain, sleet and snow New Jersey was getting, your complaints have been justified.

New Jersey was pummeled with more precipitation in 2018 than in any other year since record keeping began in 1895, the state climatologist announced Wednesday.

A downpour on Friday pushed 2018 into the record books with a statewide average of 64.09 inches of precipitation.

That beat out 2011, which saw 63.95 inches in a year when Tropical Storms Irene and Lee inundated New Jersey.

"It wasn't one big month, one big event that jacked up totals," said David Robinson, the state climatologist at Rutgers University. "One of the big stories out of this is that the rainfall was spread out over the entire year."

Indeed, 10 of the 12 months in 2018 showed above average precipitation.

March was particularly wet, as New Jersey was hit with four nor'easters in three weeks. Storms in August caused flash flooding in New Jersey that famously swept dozens of vehicles from a Little Falls car dealership into the Peckman River, captured in video footage seen worldwide.

The heavy rain is a combination of climate change and weather patterns that set up a perfect scenario for a wet 2018, Robinson said. Global warming evaporates more surface water, which leads to an atmosphere laden with more vapor, he said.

Add to that the jet stream producing a U-shaped pattern often throughout the year, keeping the West dry and the East Coast wet with warmer air.

"It's really a combination of climate and weather," Robinson said. "We have a more moisture-rich atmosphere and more warm air being pushed into our area."

That pattern may continue into 2019.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted a slightly warmer winter with more precipitation for much of the mid-Atlantic, including New Jersey.

But predicting the state's long-range weather forecast is always tricky, since the Garden State sits between an ocean and a large continent and is halfway between the North Pole and the equator, Robinson said. The warming of surface water in the Pacific Ocean – called El Nino – could bring dry conditions to northern U.S. states and wetter conditions to the South, but it's rather weak this year, which is throwing off predictions.

Heaviest one-day rainfall totals

New Jersey had 11 days when a rainfall station received more than four inches of rain:

June 10: Fairfield (Cumberland County) 4.52 inches.

June 11: Mount Holly 4.98 inches

July 18: Toms River 4.34 inches

July 28: Woodbridge 5.57 inches

Aug. 8: Hardyston 5.18 inches

Aug. 11: Cedar Grove 5.81 inches

Aug. 14: Lakewood 6.98 inches

Sept. 13: Franklin (Somerset) 5.12 inches

Sept. 26: Palisades Park 5.56 inches

Oct. 12: Southampton 6.52 inches

Nov. 25: Jackson 4.66 inches

Email: fallon@northjersey.com