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This research aims to explore the correlation between meteorological parameters and COVID-19 pandemic in New Jersey, United States. The authors employ extensive correlation analysis including Pearson correlation, Spearman correlation, Kendall's rank correlation and auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL) to check the effects of meteorological parameters on the COVID new cases of New Jersey. In doing so, PM 2.5, air quality index, temperature (°C), humidity (%), health security index, human development index, and population density are considered as crucial meteorological and non-meteorological factors. This research work used the maximum available data of all variables from 1st March to 7th July 2020. Among the weather indicators, temperature (°C) was found to have a negative correlation, while humidity and air quality highlighted a positive correlation with daily new cases of COVID-19 in New Jersey. The empirical findings illustrated that there is a strong positive association of lagged humidity, air quality, PM 2.5, and previous infections with daily new cases. Similarly, the ARDL findings suggest that air quality, humidity and infections have lagged effects with the COVID-19 spread across New Jersey. The empirical conclusions of this research might serve as a key input to mitigate the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the United States. • The study examines the effects of air pollutants on the COVID-19 spread in New Jersey. • Air quality and humidity significantly enhance new COVID-19 cases. • Air quality, humidity and COVID-19 has lagged effects with new infections. • Temperature may not be a significant determinant of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]