Alert archive / New Jersey / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 109, NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly

September 8, 1996Middlesex County, New Jersey

NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 8, 1996, 3:12 PM EDT for Middlesex County, New Jersey. It was in force for 33 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Sep 8, 1996, 3:12 PM EDT (19:12 UTC)
Expired
Sep 8, 1996, 3:45 PM EDT
In force
33 min
Issued by
NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly
Area
Whole counties

County Middlesex County, NJ

The radar

The Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:16 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Sep 8, 3:15 PM EDTTornado F0East Brunswick, NJ

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Brookhaven, NY (KOKX), launched 12:00Z, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 139 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Brookhaven, NY at 12:00Z on 1996-09-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 153 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Brookhaven, NY at 12:00Z on 1996-09-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 80 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
153 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-18 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
566 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
80 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
196 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KPHL 081913
SVRPHL
NJC023-081945-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHILADELPHIA/MOUNT HOLLY NJ
312 PM EDT SUN SEP 8 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHILADELPHIA/MOUNT HOLLY HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  345 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  NEW JERSEY
 
   ...NORTHEASTERN MIDDLESEX COUNTY
 
AT 310 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MOVING THROUGH
NORTHEASTERN MIDDLESEX COUNTY NJ. THE STORM HAS PRODUCED 2 INCHES OF
RAIN IN 40 MINUTES IN SOUTH PLAINFIELD. DANGEROUS LIGHTNING WILL OCCUR
WITH THIS SOTRM...AND IT HAD DOWNED TREES IN SOMERSET COUNTY EARLIER.
 
THE STORM WILL MOVE NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.
 
 
 
HEAVY RAINS WITH THIS THUNDERSTORM MAY CAUSE FLOODING OF SMALL
STREAMS AND UNDERPASSES VERY QUICKLY.  DO NOT DRIVE YOUR CAR INTO
AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.  THE WATER MAY BE DEEPER
THAN YOU THINK.  IF CAUGHT IN RISING WATERS...ABANDON YOUR CAR
QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
 
 
&

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 8, 12:30 PM EDT, 2 hours 42 minutes before
PAZ067>071-DEZ001>003-NJZ015>023-092300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...HOT AND HUMID
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHILADELPHIA/MOUNT HOLLY NJ
1220 PM EDT SUN SEP 08 1996

...HOT AND HUMID THIS AFTERNOON AND AGAIN MONDAY...

IT TOOK A LONG TIME THIS SUMMER...BUT THE HEAT AND HUMIDITY HAS FINALLY
ARRIVED. TEMPERATURES THIS AFTERNOON WILL REACH ABOVE 90 WITH HIGH
HUMIDITY. THE COMBINATION OF THE HEAT AND HUMIDITY WILL ALLOW THE
HEAT INDEX TO REACH WELL INTO THE 90S THIS AFTERNOON.

TEMPERATURES WILL AGAIN APPROACH 90 MONDAY AFTERNOON AND HUMIDITY
WILL ALSO BE HIGH.

THE HUMIDITY AND DISCOMFORT WILL CONTINUE INTO TONIGHT.

WHEN THE HEAT INDEX MOVES UP INTO THE 90S...SUNSTROKE...HEAT CRAMPS
AND HEAT EXHAUSTION ARE POSSIBLE WITH PROLONGED EXPOSURE AND/OR
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. THE ELDERLY AND INFIRMED ARE MOST SUSCEPTIBLE TO
HEAT RELATED PROBLEMS. IF POSSIBLE...STAY IN AIR CONDITIONED BUILDINGS
AND IN WELL VENTILATED AREAS.

RNS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 8, 2:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPHISomerset40 min
Sep 8, 3:40 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPHIMonmouth50 min
Sep 8, 4:26 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPHIMonmouth34 min
Sep 8, 6:32 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPHIOcean43 min
Sep 8, 6:34 PM EDTTornado WarningPHIBurlington26 min
Sep 8, 6:48 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningPHIBurlington117 min
Sep 8, 6:56 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPHIBurlington64 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New Jersey, 1996Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1996

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.