Afternoon Downpours Weren’t Surprising

While the weather on Wednesday didn’t have the strong winds, hail, and dangerous lightning that has been characterizing the severe weather that we have had so far this summer, it still wasn’t surprising.   The afternoon downpours brought over a third of an inch to Northwestern Middlesex County and even more to other locales around Northern Central Jersey.

A Flash Flood Warning went into effect during the mid-afternoon as slow moving thunderstorms pushed northward.  Earlier in the day, heavy rains fell in places such as Keansburg along the Jersey Shore, and across some of the five boroughs of New York City.  Some places in Queens received up to 2 inches of rain in a very short amount of time.   These storms were plenty serious and caused ponding of roadways and localized flooding.

Conditions during the mid-morning to early afternoon period made it quite apparent that some areas were going to get some form of severe weather.  Earlier in th morning, there had been some rain so there was plenty of moisture around.  I had gone out for a walk around 11:00 AM, and noticed that not only where the skies filled with all forms of cumulus clouds, but also many of these clouds were building up to incredible heights.  Whenever you see clouds that are rising in the sky that means the air is unstable, and the ingredients are there for severe weather.

I was so impressed with the cloud heights that I went back to the house, grabbed my camera, and took pictures not only from around town, but also from Washington Rock in Green Brook, Columbus Park is Piscataway, and Roosevelt Park in Edison.  The cumulus clouds were rising fairly quickly and the skies were changing rapidly.  The bit of sunlight that we received during this period acted as a catalyst to heat up all the moisture and instability around the area, and produce the thunderstorms and torrential rains.