By
Greg Machos
July 13, 2012
Recently,
there has been a rash of severe weather around the Garden State, which
has prompted GWC to reminisce on past severe weather events. An article
looking back on the Labor Day Storm of 1998
was posted to the site on Thursday. Continuing to recollect, Greg's
Weather Center takes a look back at another severe weather event that
impacted Middlesex County.
The severe weather outbreak that affected the
Garden State in mid-September 2010 kicked off a violent weather onslaught
that lasted 13 months. Powerful weather systems blitzed the state with
all kinds of weather including strong to severe thunderstorms, high
winds, tornadoes, heavy rains, floods, blizzards, and even a hurricane.
The extreme weather attack appeared to have subsided in late 2011 and
early 2012, but that even raised fears of a drought.
September
2010 was quite a warm month in Middlesex County. According to the Office
of the New Jersey State Climatologist, the mean maximum in New Brunswick
was 82 degrees while the extreme maximum was 99 degrees. Average temperature
that month was 70 degrees versus about 66 in 2009. The heat along with
the changing of the seasons provided the contrast that severe weather
outbreaks like this can thrive on.
Over in Northwestern Middlesex County, the month
of September was fairly warm. The mean temperature for the month was
68.3 degrees. There were four days of 90 degree plus weather including
a high of 96 on the 1st, and 97 on the 2nd. The summer of 2012 was quite
a scorcher with 38 days of 90 degree plus weather including 16 alone
in July. The maximum temperature that month was 101.3 degrees in South
Plainfield. Temperatures were at or above 90 degrees as late as September
8th.
On the day of the severe weather, South Plainfield
had a high of 74.2 degrees after a low of 49.5 for a mean temperature
of 62.4. The dew point peaked at 68 degrees while the heat index reached
76. As the storm approached, the barometric pressure dropped to 29.66
inches of Hg at 4:50 PM EDT. The storm moved through very quickly. It
ended up only leaving 0.13 inches of rain, and that fell in a span of
about 10 minutes. Following the thunderstorm, the temperature cooled
to about 68 degrees.
Depicted
in the GWC Time Lapse
video from that day, the storm created a greenish color in the sky,
which can be an indicator of severe weather. The storm became stronger
after it moved through South Plainfield, and barreled toward the coast
in Middlesex County. Further south in places such as Bradley Beach,
Sandy Hook and Red Bank, the storms were even more intense. Tornadoes
were spawned in the New York City boroughs of Staten Island, Brooklyn,
and Queens.
According
to an article
written in the New York Times from that day, winds from these intensifying
storms were estimated to be between 60 to 80 miles per hour. Widespread
damage was reported including tops of trees and roofs blown off. Thousands
were left without power. The hardest hit areas in those three boroughs
were Park Slope, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Middle Village, Forest Hills, and
Bayside.
The
National Weather Service investigated the storms in New York City, and
estimated that an EF0
tornado rolled through Park Slope while an EF1 rolled through Queens.
Back in New Jersey, an EF1 tornado was reported near Plumstead in interior
Ocean County. The town of Woodruff reported two houses suffered major
roof damage, a barn was destroyed, and over 300 trees were down. On
that day, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma received 99
storm reports. Of those reports, 19 of them were for tornadoes,
56 were for damaging winds, and 24 were for hail.
New
Jersey accounted for 11 of those reports including nine for high wind
damage. Perth Amboy and Woodbridge were hard hit by the developing storms.
In the township of Woodbridge, trees, large tree branches, and power
lines were down. Meanwhile, a wind gust as high as 73 miles per hour
was reported in Perth Amboy. According to an article
from nj.com, the most severe damage there occurred in the historic district
of Water Street, Market Street, and High Street. Between 10 to 20 homes
were damaged. Despite all of the damage from the storms, only one person
was killed in New York City. No injuries were reported in Perth Amboy
although a family did have to relocate.
The
memory that I have from this storm was being in the house around dinner
time watching the news as the storm rolled in. I recalled seeing the
radar
showing a line of storms pushing to the east across Middlesex County
into Staten Island. I was also posting updates on the storm including
warnings in the blog as well. Like the Labor Day Storm of 1998, this
severe weather outbreak resulted from an impressive line of storms pushing
in with a cold front. Both of these storms left quite a signature on
the radar.
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