Power Outages In Morris County After Storm

Sunday’s Severe Thunderstorm Leaves Many In The Dark

There hasn’t been much in the way of severe weather this spring. Despite an uptick in rainfall over the past two months, no serious thunderstorms have impacted Northwestern Middlesex County. However, for the second Sunday in a row, the region was threatened by a severe weather outbreak.

On June 3rd, a thunderstorm cell developed near Annandale in Hunterdon County along a small line of storms pushing eastward through the Garden State during the mid-afternoon period. The storm cell put Somerset County and Northwestern Middlesex County under the gun. Fortunately, the storm fizzled out before making a big impact in South Plainfield, Middlesex Borough, and Dunellen.

A week later, another severe storm threatened the region. This time the thunderstorm cell developed in Northwestern New Jersey near Lake Hopatcong, and pushed its way southward through Morris County into Somerset and Middlesex County during the late afternoon and early evening. The National Weather Service office in Mount Holly posted a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Somerset and North Central Middlesex County. Northwestern Middlesex County was in the bullseye again.

Moving to the south at 30 miles per hour, the storm produced 60 mile per hour winds that downed trees in places such as Dover, Rockaway Township, and Mendham in Morris County. The thunderstorm also produced dangerous cloud to ground lightning and heavy rains. Warned areas included Northeastern Hunterdon County, South Central Morris County, Somerset County, and North Central Middlesex County.

The Star-Ledger reported that high winds knocked down trees in Dover, Bernards Township, Harding, and Wharton, and also produced numerous power outages that left some 11,000 people in the dark according to Jersey Central Power & Light. Hardest hit of all these areas appeared to be Jefferson Township with some 5,000 residents without power. Power Outages affected such places as the Rockaway Mall and the Hilton Hotel in Morris County according to WABC7 in New York. The storm also produced flooding that hampered traffic on Route 80 near Roxbury according to NJ.com.

In total, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman Oklahoma received three severe weather reports from New Jersey on Sunday. One was in Sparta in Sussex County for downed tree limbs, another was in Hopatcong in Morris County for widespread trees and power lines downed, and the third and final one was in Bernardsville in Morris County for more downed trees and wires. There were a total of 93 storm reports nationwide on Sunday including four reports of tornadoes, 14 reports of hail, and 75 reports of high winds.