Storms Wreak Havoc near GWC

During the late afternoon of Monday, July 27th, a severe thunderstorm blossomed near Greg’s Weather Center in South Plainfield, NJ and produced a microburst that brought torrential rain, hail, and damaging winds to portions of Plainfield, South Plainfield, and North Edison.

Severe Thunderstorms Produce Microburst with Torrential Rains, Damaging Winds, and Hail in Northern Middlesex County

Watch time-lapse footage of the skies over Greg’s Weather Center as a severe thunderstorm produced a microburst (on the right side of video) just to the north and east in Plainfield and the northeast side of South Plainfield, NJ during the late afternoon of July 27th.

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ – Over the past two years, the month of July has produced several severe weather outbreaks in Northwestern Middlesex County.  The latest storms to wreak havoc in Central Jersey produced a microburst with torrential rains, damaging winds, and hail on Monday, July 27th in portions of Southern Union County and Northern Middlesex County.  Fortunately, Greg’s Weather Center in South Plainfield, NJ, which was only a couple miles or so from the epicenter of the worst of these storms, dodged a bullet and only received two-thirds of an inch of rainfall.

With temperatures hovering in the mid to upper 80s and dew points near tropical levels, the atmosphere contained a ton of energy that let loose in dramatic fashion during the late afternoon.  At about 5:10 PM, the skies grew dark and menacing as storm clouds developed right over GWC.  As the storm blossomed, the radar at Fort Dix in Lakehurst, New Jersey didn’t seem to pick it up right away.  Cumulonimbus clouds developed to the northeast and the west of GWC and thunder could be heard.  Within several minutes, the winds increased and rain began to fall.  Further to the north and east in Plainfield, Northeastern South Plainfield, and North Edison, a microburst emerged.

Watch footage of the conditions at Greg’s Weather Center in South Plainfield, NJ during the severe thunderstorm that produced the microburst on July 27th. As the video shows, GWC was thankfully spared the brunt of the storm.

According to Matthew Anesh, the Mayor of South Plainfield, the storm dumped four to five inches of rain in a very localized area between Park Avenue and Woodland Avenue.  Down the road on Inman Avenue in North Edison, hail and high winds created quite a scene at the Inman Grove Shopping Plaza.  Time-lapse footage taken by a GoPro Hero 12 camera at Greg’s Weather Center clearly depicted the microburst over Plainfield and neighborhoods bordering the Queen City in South Plainfield.  The thunderstorms contained downdrafts that thrusted the rain down with considerable force.

GWC was luckily on the periphery of this potent storm.  The rainfall rate peaked at 3.62 inches per hour at 5:49 PM.  Much of the rain fell while the sun came back out.  The nearby microburst created an outflow boundary that generated some gusty winds, but nothing to the extent of what occurred at Inman Grove Plaza in North Edison.  Although the Northeast side of South Plainfield received the brunt of the rainfall, the south side of the town didn’t get much rain at all.  Additional rain followed on Tuesday as part of another severe weather outbreak.  The rainfall amount at GWC over the two days was 1.22 inches, which brought the monthly total for July 2026 up to 6.46 inches.

Watch time-lapse footage of the skies over Greg’s Weather Center in South Plainfield, NJ as another severe weather threat ensued on July 28th.

The last two years have produced the two wettest Julys on record at Greg’s Weather Center.  Last July ranks seventh all time at GWC with 8.27 inches.  This July finished not too far behind at 13th on the list.  This month’s rainfall accounted for a littler more than a third (33.5%) of all the rain accumulated for the year (19.49 inches) at GWC.  The rain has been accompanied by storms that also contained damaging winds, frequent lightning, and very loud thunder.  Both July 2025 and July 2026 produced a severe thunderstorm with powerful winds on July 3rd.  In both instances, trees were uprooted in parts of Plainfield and South Plainfield.

Storms with torrential rainfall also emerged during the middle of the month these two years.  On July 14, 2025, a series of thunderstorms dumped 5.54 inches of rain at GWC and resulted in devastating floods in North Plainfield, Plainfield, and South Plainfield.  The peak rainfall rate during the deluge was 3.92 inches per hour at 5:42 PM that day.  A little over a year later on July 18, 2026, several rounds of severe thunderstorms produced heavy rain, frequent lightning, and loud thunder.  Total rainfall from the storms was 1.70 inches.  The peak rainfall rate this time around was 6.13 inches per hour at 11:49 AM.

Watch time-lapse footage of the skies over Greg’s Weather Center in South Plainfield, NJ as a roll cloud developed during the afternoon of July 28th.