Storm’s Remnants Provide Another Downpour for Northern Middlesex County

There was much anticipation and some trepidation about the track of what was Tropical Storm Bill. After dumping plenty of rain over Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri earlier in the week, Bill’s remains pushed eastward on Saturday moving through the Ohio Valley and taking aim on the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States. With its circulation still holding together, Bill was still classified as a tropical depression by the National Weather Service on Saturday as it brought heavy rains to places such as Kentucky.

Further to the east, several Severe Thunderstorm Watches were issued by the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma for portions of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. Bill’s remains did sock some places in those states. For example, in Gaithersburg, Maryland, the storm’s remnants produced a peak rainfall rate of 7.87 inches per hour while leaving behind a total of 0.91 inches. A bit further to the north in Enola, Pennsylvania, just outside of the state capital of Harrisburg, the remnant low produced 3.68 inches of rain. Over to the south and east in Delaware, several locations had over an inch and three quarters of rain. In Seaford, Delaware, there were three such locations that had approximately 1.94, 1.88, and 1.7 inches of rain respectively while off to the north and east in Ellendale, there was 1.78 inches.

Moving on to the Garden State, much of the heaviest rain was confined to the southern portion of New Jersey. According to data provided by CoCoRaHS, Ocean City, located in Cape May county to the southwest of Atlantic City, was the top rain getter in Jersey with 2.01 inches of rain. A bit further to the south, Upper Township received 1.66 inches while over to the west in Woodbine, there was 1.36 inches. Lindenwold, in Camden County to the southeast of Philadelphia, received 1.30 inches of rain. Areas in Western and Northwestern New Jersey also saw a good deal of rain. Montague, located in Sussex County just outside High Point State Park, tallied 1.22 inches of rain. To the southeast in Wantage, there was 0.92 inches.

Closer to home in Middlesex County, the rainfall amounts were much less. Here at GWC in South Plainfield, there was a peak rainfall rate of 6.86 inches per hour at one point, but only 0.38 inches of rain. Several other weather stations nearby in town had similar amounts ranging from 0.3 to 0.4 inches. Edison received 0.25 inches of rain. New Brunswick had 0.37 inches of rain. Two locations in Woodbridge had 0.27 and 0.30 inches. Old Bridge received 0.3 inches while South River received 0.33 inches. The winner in Middlesex County was Cranbury Township in the extreme southern portion of the county heading toward Mercer County, which received 0.64 inches. All the rain came during the overnight hours. By daybreak, the storm had pretty much moved out of the area.

Bill’s remains did manage to leave an imprint on the neighborhood outside GWC. Right in front of the house where GWC is located in South Plainfield, a large tree branch fell in the middle of the street. The branch just missed hitting a car. There was no damage. With temperatures forecasted to top out into the upper 80s to near 90 on Sunday afternoon, conditions could be still unstable enough to have some storms develop in the afternoon.