Thunderstorms Pummel Jersey As Cold Front Crashes Through Heat And Humidity

With three days of torrid heat and humidity built up in the atmosphere over New Jersey as well as much of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, the stage was set on Friday for severe weather. The cold front that crashed through the hot and humid air mass over the region didn’t disappoint.

From noon time to well into the evening, thunderstorms rolled through many parts of the Garden State. The most severe weather occurred in Monmouth and Ocean County. An explosion of thunderstorms along the coast during the afternoon left many locations at or near the Jersey Shore waterlogged.

The town of Stafford in Southern Ocean County was estimated by doppler radar to have received 10.6 inches. Other estimates from around the area had two to three inches. A bit further north in the town of Manahawkin across the bay from Long Beach Island, there were flooded streets and water covered roadways.

Meanwhile, further north in Monmouth County, the firing up of thunderstorms produced dangerous cloud to ground lightning that struck one person in the Fort Hancock section of Sandy Hook. A severe thunderstorm there also produced 50 mile per hour winds. More powerful thunderstorms popped up in Burlington, Western Monmouth and Ocean Counties with places such as Cream Ridge, Jackson Township, and Adelphia being affected.

The severe weather, which had been all around Northwestern Middlesex County during the afternoon, finally slammed directly into the region around dinner time with a thunderstorm cell that had originated in Western New Jersey pushing through. The thunderstorm cell produced strong winds, heavy rain, and dangerous lightning as well. South Plainfield received 0.35 inches of rainfall from the storms on Friday for a total of 3.35 inches for the month.