With wildfires burning after its driest September and October ever, New Jersey will issue a drought warning, a step that could eventually lead to mandatory water restrictions if significant rain doesn’t fall soon.

For the first time in eight years, the state Department of Environmental Protection has declared a drought warning in New Jersey amid an unprecedented wave of dry weather that has led to shrinking water supplies and a rash of wildfires.

The dry conditions are part of a broader drought across the Northeast. Nationally, October was one of the driest months on record.