Observations and numerical model simulations indicate that anomalous surface drying is strongly forced by mass and momentum adjustments under the right exit region of a polar jet streak overtaking and modifying a weak surface cold front. This drying event, which was associated with a wildfire in south-central New Jersey, is related to multi-scale atmospheric forcing that began far upstream and was likely not coupled to the classic cold conveyor belt model, as described by Carlson (Mon Wea Rev 108:1498–1509, 1980). The analyses indicate that both deep tropospheric circulations and boundary layer dry air advection occur in tandem to create a favorable environment for two closely associated extreme surface drying events. The first drying event occurs when lower tropospheric air is transported downwards in the descending branch of the low-level cold front’s thermally direct circulation. This low-level circulation, which is vertically separated from the upper-level jet, is still enhanced by the hydrostatic pressure rises under the velocity convergence in the equatorward exit region of the polar jet. The upper-level convergence phases with the low-level cold air advection to intensify the low-level isallobaric wind. Dry air increases at low levels in conjunction with the isallobaric divergence behind the low-level cold front. Sinking air occurs within the 100-hPa layer centered just above 900 hPa as a result of the isallobaric divergence. The shallow descending circulation within the upstream side of this low-level front produces the first injection of dry air into the surface layer independently of deep-boundary layer mixing. Surface moisture divergence and shallow sinking sustain the dry cold front in the boundary layer. The descending air in the upper tropospheric jet circulation does not immediately couple to the deepening boundary layer accompanying the cold front’s circulation. A second drying event occurs at the surface shortly thereafter, when surface heating deepens the well-mixed layer, such that the boundary layer behind the low-level front (i.e., within its trailing descending air) is linked to the dry air under the jet’s equatorward exit region descending branch. Thus, the first drying event is created by the low-level direct circulation in a region of isallobaric divergence, while the second drying event is created by the coupling between the upper level indirect circulation and the deepening convective boundary layer. The two dry events combine to create a favorable environment for an isolated wildfire as both dry air and increasing surface winds develop during maximum surface heating.