The final day of June could turn out to be a stormy one in New Jersey, with the National Weather Service placing all of the state’s 21 counties under a severe thunderstorm watch.
UPDATE: Severe thunderstorms trigger warnings in several counties
While a watch isn’t as urgent as a warning, it puts the Garden State on notice that conditions are favorable for the development of nasty storms that could pack a big punch in terms of large hail, frequent lightning and damaging winds that could topple trees and power lines.
Forecasters say they can’t rule out the possibility of isolated tornadoes because of hot temperatures, very high humidity and high wind shear in the atmosphere.
One thunderstorm watch, issued about 11:10 a.m. Sunday, will be effective until 7 p.m. Sunday in the following New Jersey counties: Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Salem, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren.
A separate thunderstorm watch was issued shortly before 3:30 p.m. for three counties — Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland — and that watch will be effective until 11 p.m. Sunday.
Forecasters say a cold front is expected to move across our region and interact with hot and humid air, setting the stage for some strong thunderstorms to pop up.
The national Storm Prediction Center says the Garden State has an enhanced risk of getting hit with severe thunderstorms with damaging winds on Sunday. An enhanced risk is the third highest on a risk scale that ranges from 1 to 5.
This marks the fourth time in a week that a severe thunderstorm watch was issued in New Jersey. Several days ago, fierce thunderstorms ripped through many areas of the state, leading to one fatality and one serious injury. Strong thunderstorms also swept across parts of the state on Saturday, and torrential rain fell in southern New Jersey Sunday morning.
A 30-year-old father was killed Wednesday night after a large tree in a neighbor’s yard fell on him while he was securing an umbrella in his own backyard in East Orange as thunderstorms arrived, authorities said. On the same night, a woman was seriously injured when a tree crashed through a Park Ridge home as a fierce storm rolled through northern New Jersey.
Wednesday night’s thunderstorms knocked down scores of trees and power lines across the state, triggering as many as 100,000 power outages.
Heavy rainfall totals reported in N.J.
Some areas of New Jersey were saturated with a full month and a half worth of rain in less than eight hours on Sunday as thunderstorms and heavy pockets of rain moved across the region. These are among the preliminary rainfall totals reported by the Rutgers NJ Weather Network between 4 a.m. and 11 a.m.
- 6.44 inches in Dennis Township, Cape May County
- 6.24 inches in Woodbine, Cape May County
- 3.88 inches in Cape May Court House, Cape May County
- 2.42 inches in Fortescue, Cumberland County
- 1.83 inches in Hammonton, Atlantic County
Current weather radar
Stories by Len Melisurgo
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Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com or on X at @LensReality.