In anticipation of the arrival of another powerful storm system from the South on Thursday, the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly, New Jersey has issued a Flash Flood Watch for portions of Central Jersey as well as all of Northern New Jersey and Northeastern Pennsylvania. This includes the towns and cities of Morristown, New Brunswick, Somerville, and Trenton.

Middlesex County is one of the counties under this watch that begins on Thursday morning and lasts until Thursday evening. A powerful storm system that is producing severe weather throughout much of the South on Wednesday, is expected to move east toward the coast on Thursday. Already portions of the Mid-Atlantic including Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia are under a Tornado Watch, and there is a Severe Thunderstorm Warning in effect for Morris and Sussex counties in New Jersey. There is plenty of warm, moist air ahead of a strong cold front that will slam into the region within the next 24 hours.

Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected to develop on Thursday, and could produce an inch or more of rainfall in a very short amount of time. There has already been an abundance of rain this spring in addition to snow melt from what had been a very tough winter. So, the ground is already saturated across the Garden State. Places such as Bound Brook and Manville along the banks of the Raritan River in Somerset County as well as locales like Pequannock, Pompton Plains, Little Falls, and Wayne along the Passaic may have to brace for another round of flooding.

The swiftness and amount of the rainfall will cause flash flooding along rivers and creeks as well as the ponding of roadways, and flooding in poor drainage areas. So, if you see a road covered by water, turn around, and don’t drown. We’ll be closely monitoring the weather conditions on Thursday, and posting about them here.