Just four days after the outbreak, a small tornado touched down in Seaside Park in Ocean County, ripping the roof off a building and blowing out the windows of a car, according to a 1989 storm report from the National Weather Service. Severe thunderstorms and tornado outbreaks are far more common in the late afternoon or early evening, especially on days when the atmosphere grows more unstable from intense daytime heating. Two deaths were reported in New Jersey from the storms, although neither was directly linked to the tornadoes. July 29, 2009 EF2 Sussex, NJ A tornado touched down near Wantage in Sussex County, downing numerous trees, partially collapsing two barns and damaging several others. Per the Storm Data entry, the tornado developed along a squall line. The COVID-19 crisis isn't over. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. A house in Piscataway was reduced to rubble, with a 15-month-old baby trapped under debris. “We were blessed. We had no injuries, no structural damage.”, New Jersey's biggest tornado outbreak on record left a wide swath of destruction in seven counties across the state on Nov. 16, 1989. Officials determined the truck fatality was not directly related to a tornado, but it was clearly part of the turbulent storm system that tore through New Jersey. Tornado Touchdown in Howell, NJ - 06/24/17 - YouTube. “It made a left-hand turn onto River Road. One of the hardest-hit areas was this housing development in Piscataway.Star-Ledger file photo. “Boy we were lucky,” Onnembo said. “I wasn’t surprised by the stormy weather. Then a strong cold front moved in from the Great Lakes and pushed much colder air into the warm air, creating a turbulent clash that resulted in a narrow band of powerful thunderstorms known as a squall line. Even 30 years later, Jim Eberwine, a retired National Weather Service meteorologist, still expresses a sense of awe and surprise over the tornado outbreak. “I felt like the front of the car was going to lift up. Going solely by the enhanced Fujita scale, New … This video was shot by me, Brett M. Dzadik … The worst damage occurred within the unoccupied Byberry Industrial Park as the tornado reached its strongest intensity. THIS IS THE STRONGEST TORNADO EVER IN SUSSEX COUNTY SINCE RECORDS STARTED IN 1950. The agency later upgraded to its current high-tech system, known as the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System, or AWIPS.National Weather Service. All rights reserved (About Us). This video was shot by me, Brett M. Dzadik on the morning of June 24, 2017 in Howell, NJ. Tornado touched down in NJ during Wednesday storm, NWS confirms New homeowners' house crushed by tree as wild weather hits NJ Power problems could last days across NJ after Isaias wreaks havoc Worm tornado in Hoboken, NJ. And with so much stormy weather occurring in the morning and early afternoon over a wide geographic area, forecasters were concerned about children traveling on school buses. Day 2 Outlook issued May 30, 2021 The 1989 Northeastern United States tornado outbreak was a series of tornadoes which caused more than $130 million (1989 USD) in damage across the Northeastern United States on July 10, 1989. Read more: Tornado Warning For South Jersey Wednesday Night Here are the alerted areas: A severe thunderstorm watch and warnings were in effect in a number of New Jersey counties on Wednesday as hail, 80-mph damaging winds, power outages and possibly lightning were expected to hit the Garden State today and this week. New video shows that trees have been downed in Scotch Plains. The 1989 outbreak erupted at 11:15 a.m., and the last twister touched down at 12:25 p.m., with some thunderstorms lingering into the mid-afternoon. One of the strongest was an F3 that quickly hit in Somerset County, NJ in Montgomery Township. Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Also unusual, he said, was the time of day the outbreak started. “We were thinking, ‘Oh my God.’ This type of thing doesn’t happen in this area,” Onnembo recalled this week, saying people in his hometown were stunned when the twister arrived, then even more surprised when it meandered in different directions, like a confused driver. The rare November tornado outbreak was triggered by a turbulent atmospheric setup — which was eerily similar to the stormy weather pattern New Jersey just experienced on Halloween, when a small tornado touched down in Morris County, Eberwine noted. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. The first tornado was spotted in the Strathmere section of Upper Township in Cape May County, and the second one was seen spinning on the ground in Barnegat Township in Ocean County. Our journalism needs your support. 16 tornadoes were confirmed across parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on October 18, 1990. Filed under hoboken , new jersey , tornadoes , worms , 3/27/21. No … ... Tornado Touches Down During New … “The phones were ringing off the hook, because it was happening so fast,” Eberwine recalled. Possible tornado touches down in Sussex County, New Jersey; local high school damaged May 29, 2019, 8:34 AM A possible tornado touched down in Sussex County, New Jersey as strong storms made their way through the area on Tuesday night. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. We’ve never been struck by a truly powerful tornado. Fierce thunderstorm winds that day also claimed the life of a 67-year-old Camden man, who was literally blown off the ground and landed on his head on a street in that South Jersey city, according to news reports from the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Courier-Post. It is considered an F5 on the Fujita Scale, even though tornadoes were not ranked on any scale at the time. The pattern then flipped again when the calendar turned to 1990, with a warm January not only in New Jersey but nationwide. Nov. 16, 1989 spawned the largest flare-up of twisters in state history, an especially unique weather phenomenon in the fall season. “It came up one, two, three and then it was over, just like that.”, This is the front page of The Star-Ledger the day after New Jersey was struck by seven tornadoes in November 1989.The Star-Ledger, In its official storm reports issued that month, the National Weather Service called it “one of the worst outbreaks of severe weather experienced in this area.”. The sky turned black — pitch black — as ominous clouds hovered on a balmy Thursday morning. I was hanging on for dear life,” one tractor-trailer driver recalled after the powerful winds ripped across the trucking complex, where he was making a delivery of chemical drums. ... Nomadland's Chloé Zhao on Sunday became only the second women — and first woman of color — to win the best director prize at the annual British Academy Film and Television Arts awards. Some people called to report funnel clouds touching down, Eberwine said. Robinson said the cold front that triggered the tornadoes and violent thunderstorms in November 1989 marked a major pattern shift in the weather across North America. Tornado spotted off southern ocean city, nj! A tornado that ripped through New Brunswick on June 19, 1935, is believed to be the deadliest in Garden State history, said New Jersey State Climatologist David Robinson, who … People came running out of their homes screaming and crying.”, One of the seven tornadoes that touched down in New Jersey on Nov. 16, 1989, destroyed the former Ideal Farms dairy barn in the Augusta section of Frankford Township in Sussex County.Jerry McCrea | Star-Ledger file photo. This article lists various tornado records. NWS Mount Holly has six confirmed tornadoes in its coverage area, which includes New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. He was monitoring weather maps and black-and-white radar images that the weather service’s Atlantic City office transmitted to the Philly office. I was surprised it was happening in mid-November,” said Eberwine, who was sitting at his work station on the ninth floor of the National Weather Service office in downtown Philadelphia that morning. Find NJ.com on Facebook. One of the strongest tornadoes that whirled through New Jersey during the 1989 outbreak cut one town a lucky break. Three homes were flattened on DeHart Drive. What the heck is this?’ ” he recalled. Unless otherwise noted, the source of the F5 rating is the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS), as shown in the archives of the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) and National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). Exactly 30 years ago today, parts of the Garden State looked more like Kansas, Oklahoma, or another distant state in “Tornado Alley." Plumsted, NJ A tornado touched down in Plumsted Township, causing roof damage to two homes and downing numerous trees. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. © 2021 Advance Local Media LLC. “I recall my office windows getting pounded with rain and fogging up, so the wind had to be coming from a generally southwest direction.”. There was no access to smartphones or social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook in those days, so the weather service relied on TV news, radio stations and NOAA weather radios to get alerts out about dangerous storms approaching. An unseasonably warm and overcast day across New Jersey had suddenly grown sinister just after 11 a.m. Then the eerie, dark sky erupted as a line of violent thunderstorms rolled through. A large uprooted tree rests against a house in the 900 block of Hamilton Avenue in Trenton, as the area feels the effects of Tropical Storm Isaias on Tuesday, Aug. 4.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. If a waterspout moves over land and touches down, then it gets classified as a tornado. A pedestrian in Trenton struggles with an umbrella in high winds in Trenton as the area feels the effects of Tropical Storm Isaias on Tuesday, Aug. 4.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Even with the older technology, Eberwine said in a recent interview, “forecasters were aware we were in for a rough day.”. New Jersey's biggest tornado outbreak on record left a wide swath of destruction in seven counties across the state in November 1989. It was like smoke was swirling all around.”, New Jersey's biggest tornado outbreak on record left a wide swath of destruction in seven counties across the state in November 1989. Enter your email address to be the first to know: Scott Rosenbaum, a construction supervisor at the Castle Ridge housing development in East Hanover, said he was inside his office when one of the twisters hit. “It was late morning, and within minutes, rain began pouring down and the wind started blowing strongly outside my Livingston campus office” in Piscataway, Robinson said. This was the first strong tornado in New Jersey since August 20, 1999 and the first strong tornado in Monmouth County since October 16, 1955. The tornado's path length was about 1.5 miles and its path width was around 200 feet. A month earlier on June 13 an EF-0 tornado struck in Mullica Hill while a stronger EF-1 developed in Deptford and crossed into Blackwood but did … Awe over the huge number of twisters and the widespread destruction they caused, even though they were on the lower levels of the tornado intensity scale. Riverfront County Park was where the tornado toppled some trees before lifting up. Courtesy of Tiffanie Fisher/Twitter. Although it hasn’t yet been confirmed, forecasters believe the waterspout moved onto land and became one of the two tornadoes that touched down in the Garden State Tuesday morning. … One house in the development was completely demolished, and the homeowner crawled through the wreckage to rescue his 15-month-old daughter, who was covered by debris but was not hurt, The Star-Ledger reported at the time. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (each updated 1/1/21). … The COVID-19 crisis isn't over. The tornado's path length was about 1.5 miles and its path width was around 200 feet. The storm hit just before 9:00 last night. Among the strongest wind gusts reported across New Jersey as of Tuesday evening were: (Wind data from the National Weather Service and the Rutgers NJ Weather Network.). A lucky break in Bergen County One of the strongest tornadoes that whirled through New Jersey during the 1989 outbreak cut one town a lucky break. “As it struck Central New Jersey, I was on the phone with a colleague in Toronto and he was recounting how the front had blasted through there before dawn,” Robinson recalled. A large mass of warm, moist air was pushed up from the Gulf region by strong winds, leaving a plume of warm air hovering over New Jersey and most of the eastern United States that morning in 1989. One weather reporting station off the coast of Long Beach Island picked up a gust that registered a whopping 109 mph, according to the National Weather Service. I don’t want to get this close again.”. New Jersey State Climatologist David Robinson, a Rutgers University professor who oversees the Rutgers NJ Weather Network, was in his second year of teaching at Rutgers when the outbreak occurred. May 31, 1985, A major tornado outbreak struck Ohio, New York, Ontario, and western Pennsylvania, the strongest of which being an F5 that struck Niles-Wheatland. “That was the closest I’ve ever been to a tornado. The tornado was rated as an F1 (A weak tornado on the Fujita Scale) in Montgomery County and intensified into an F2 (or strong tornado on the Fujita Scale) within Philadelphia. This is the same type of tornado that killed 24 people outside of Oklahoma City in 2013. One twister caused heavy damage at the Linden Motor Freight Company in Union County, pictured here. A tornado watch was issued for eight New Jersey counties, and severe weather is expected across the state. It was scary. Debris flew through the air. Len Melisurgo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Powerful winds knocked down trees, power lines and flipped a softball dugout in Stanhope. Tornado Touchdown in Howell, NJ - 06/24/17 - Duration: 1:49. This is what the weather monitoring consoles looked like at National Weather Service offices in the 1980s, when forecasters used an ASOF computer system to track storms and issue alerts. “Even more remarkably, the new pattern persisted into December, resulting in the coldest New Jersey December since 1895,” Robinson noted. One of New Jersey's five tornadoes so far this year touched down in Stanhope in Sussex County in May and caused widespread damage to houses and a regional high school. The tornadoes on this list have been formally rated F5 by an official government source. The big tornado outbreak in New Jersey that day was preceded by a deadly tornado outbreak in the southern United States just one day earlier, when a powerful F4 twister killed 21 people in Alabama. One tornado that tore through Linden in Union County roared so loudly, “it sounded like incoming artillery,” said Louis Salz, a Vietnam War veteran who was co-owner of the Linden Motor Freight warehouse complex. “I was afraid my truck would turn over. That deadly school disaster was initially blamed on a small-scale tornado, but weather officials later determined it was caused by a powerful burst of wind that shot down from thunderstorm clouds, hit the ground and slammed into the school. All rights reserved (About Us). Subscribe today for timely updates and news you need. How fierce were those winds that were whipping across New Jersey as Tropical Storm Isaias was barreling through our region Tuesday morning? The most "extreme" tornado in recorded history was the Tri-State Tornado, which spread through parts of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana on March 18, 1925. The tornado was rated as an F1 (A weak tornado on the Fujita Scale) in Montgomery County and intensified into an F2 (or strong tornado on the Fujita Scale) within Philadelphia. An uprooted tree ruptured a natural gas line in Nutley, forcing the evacuation of 20 homes. Waterspouts are whirling columns of air and water, with the same characteristics as tornadoes. “It got very dark, very windy… and there was a roar and the windows started shaking,” said Bill Thomas, operations manager at an appliance store in the Morris County town of East Hanover. NJ NewsNJ News From CBS Channel 2. “Trees down, telephone poles down, and we were thinking, ‘Wow.’ ”. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality or like him on Facebook. He said it was associated with a strong cold front that not only raced through the eastern United States, but also through parts of Canada on that unseasonably warm day. This large tree fell on top of a house in the Augusta section of Frankford Township in Sussex County, where one of the twisters touched down.Jerry McCrea | Star-Ledger file photo. They just didn’t realize it would be as rough as they anticipated, he said, until his office started getting bombarded with storm damage reports. The Barnegat twister is the one that likely started out as a waterspout, Carr said. Winds intensified. Witness accounts painted scenes of panic and disbelief. Little did people know, on the same day but in 2021, it would be even worse and widespread. Subscribe today for timely updates and news you need. Chaos unfolded across a large swath of the Garden State just a week before Thanksgiving, as New Jersey became the unlikely target of a rare — and destructive — force of nature: A tornado outbreak. The tornado first touched down near Arbach Lane in Manalapan Township. Forecasters 30 years ago didn’t have access to high-tech, high-resolution Doppler radar systems with bright colorization to help spot rotating winds, Eberwine said. The storm system affected five states with severe weather, including hail up to 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) across, thunderstorm winds up to 90 mph (140 km/h), and 17 tornadoes. Want more weather news? The worst damage occurred within the unoccupied Byberry Industrial Park as the tornado reached its strongest intensity. Just a week after the twisters, a snowstorm blanketed Central New Jersey with about 5 inches of snow on Thanksgiving. “You could see roof shingles flying everywhere. Several people suffered minor injuries, and dozens more were affected as trees were uprooted, gas lines were ruptured, cars were crushed and roofs were torn apart. Especially during the normally cool month of November. “The sky was very, very black and the wind was twisting the trees right over.”. As the day went on, more ominous storm reports trickled in from emergency management officials and news outlets: The driver of the overturned truck on the New Jersey side of the bridge was killed in the mishap, and a passenger was hospitalized with head injuries, The Star-Ledger reported at the time. The Livingston campus is only about a mile away from the Yorktowne Square housing development, which was hit hard by one of the seven tornadoes that touched down in New Jersey that day. Find out the average number of tornados that occur in New Jersey. September 6, 1979 – Hurricane David passed to the west of the state, causing 58 mph (93 km/h) wind gusts, light rainfall, and at least one tornado. @6abc pic.twitter.com/KUjpWa0YXl — Maddie Fisher (@MadelynMFisher) August 4, 2020. Sheets of rain blew sideways. It zig-zagged down several streets — but miraculously left local homes and businesses unscathed, said Jerry Onnembo, a retired police officer who was working as a lieutenant at the time. A downed tree crushed a car in Maplewood. No injuries were reported. Brett Dzadik 95,358 views Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (each updated 1/1/21). About a dozen other homes in the development were damaged by the twister. Tornado Watch In 8 NJ Counties. Len Melisurgo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, small tornado touched down in Morris County. And not just any tornado outbreak. “We didn’t expect to see an outbreak like that in November.”. Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. “Sheets of rain came, and strong winds,” he told The Star-Ledger that day. Tornadoes confirmed in Sussex County, NJ and Monroe County, PA July 29, 2009 NOTE: Graphic denotes approximate location of tornado. The path was estimated at only 1/2 mile. Gladys Muller, a cashier at an Exxon station in Frankford in Sussex County, saw a funnel cloud and feared her car would be sucked into the churning winds. Prior to 1950, assessments of F5 tornadoes are based primarily on the work of Thomas P. Grazulis. “It was a very different-looking world out there for a few minutes,” a woman in the Essex County township of North Caldwell told The Star-Ledger on that November day three decades ago. Workers reported seeing a funnel cloud spin through a field and the trucking complex, where it sent shards of steel and metal pipes flying around, punching hundreds of holes in the ceiling of one building and causing walls to collapse onto several cars and trucks. It holds records for longest path length at 219 miles, longest duration at about 3½ hours, and fastest forward speed for a significant tornado … An EF-0 tornado flipped over a car as it passed through Mount Laurel, New Jersey. “I remember standing there, saying, ’This is November. Residents of Lyndhurst in Bergen County remember seeing the sky quickly turn dark and a funnel cloud spin across their township. https://hypotheticaltornadoes.fandom.com/wiki/2020_Cherry_Hill,_NJ_Tornado Powerful winds pushed two tractor-trailers onto their sides on the Goethals Bridge, one on the Elizabeth side and one on the Staten Island side. Learn more at Ground Zero Shelters today. That’s been the strongest gust reported anywhere in New Jersey so far, as of 2:45 p.m., and it occurred in the bay near Ship Bottom as a waterspout was spotted over the water, said Nick Carr, a meteorologist at the weather service’s regional forecast office in Mount Holly. Monroe County, PA Wantage, Sussex County, NJ Weather Event Archive. “It was horrible,” she told The Star-Ledger. Instead, meteorologists tracked bad weather with older radar systems, frontal maps printed out in black and white and frequent communications with weather service offices across the region. Pennsylvania got most of the strong F3+ tornadoes. Especially early in the day. -The cleanup will get underway today in New Jersey where a possible tornado touched down leaving damage behind. The day would end with seven tornadoes touching down in seven different New Jersey counties as a fierce cluster of thunderstorms known as “super cells” roared through the area — all in the span of about 90 minutes. Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. July 27, 2004 F1 Pemberton-Woodland, NJ It took a left onto Page Avenue, heading back towards the river,” the retired cop said. Weather setups like that usually cause instability in the atmosphere, triggering rain showers and some thunderstorms, but not an outbreak of tornadoes, Eberwine said. Jack S. Kanthal | Star-Ledger file photo. © 2021 Advance Local Media LLC. The storm devastated the town and others in the area. And surprise over the timing. While examples of mass destruction and various observations came from a growing number of tornadoes by the early 1800s, a major scientific study of a tornado site did not occur until 1835*, when a significant tornado hit New Brunswick, New Jersey. Among the strongest wind gusts reported across New Jersey as of Tuesday evening were: 109 mph near Ship Bottom (over water, not land) 75 mph in Berkeley Township The same line of storms that swept across the Garden State on Nov. 16 triggered a strong downdraft that caused the partial collapse of an elementary school in Orange County, New York, killing nine students. Win Streak At NBA-Best 8 GamesThe Knicks won all three meetings against the Hawks this season. Its strongest wind speed recorded … Please subscribe today to NJ.com. The roof was torn off a department store in Asbury Park. Possible rain wrapped tornado outside ocean city! Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. “When it got down to the river, it made a right turn, missing structures, and it went into the county park.”. It went down River Road for about a block onto Page Avenue. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, 68 mph at Newark Liberty International Airport, 66 mph at Atlantic City International Airport (Pomona). Going solely on the Enhanced Fujita Scale or EF-Scale, New Jersey has never experienced an EF5 tornado – the strongest type with maximum wind speeds of more than 300 mph. , New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, assessments of F5 tornadoes are based primarily the... 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