High Wind in New Jersey, December 17, 2000

Name: High Wind in New Jersey, December 17, 2000
Start: 2000-12-17T04:00
End: 2000-12-17T23:00
Location: New Jersey

December 17, 2000 · NWS PHI · 24 events in 20 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 24 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 24

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS PHI wrote it up.

An unseasonably warm air mass and an intense low pressure system and cold front set the stage for an extremely windy day across New Jersey on December 17th. Gusty southerly winds buffeted the region during the first half of the day. Winds reached high wind levels across Sussex, Morris, Middlesex and Monmouth Counties even without the thunderstorms before noon EST. Elsewhere (and later in central New Jersey) thunderstorms embedded within bands of heavy precipitation exacerbated the wind. Please look at separate Stormdata entries on this date about the severe thunderstorms. As the cold front passed through the region during the afternoon of the 17th, the strong southerly winds were replaced by equally strong westerly winds into the evening. The difference was there were no thunderstorms to mix down even stronger winds. Most of the peak wind gusts occurred during the morning and were between 40 and 60 mph. Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down in Northwest New Jersey. GPU Energy reported 26,800 customers lost power in Northwest New Jersey. In Middlesex County, a tree fell on a house at 7 a.m. EST in East Brunswick Township. Trees and wires were also knocked down on Agate Road. A similar incident (tree on a house) occurred about the same time in Willingboro (Burlington County) Township. About 8,500 homes and businesses lost power around Flemington (Hunterdon County). Power was lost at the Hamilton Mall in Atlantic County about 6 p.m. EST after some wires were pulled down, stranding numerous holiday shoppers. In addition to Northwest New Jersey, an additional 30,200 customers lost power in Central and Southern New Jersey. Most of the outages occurred during the severe thunderstorms. Reported peak wind gusts included 70 mph in Keansburg (Monmouth County), 58 mph in Sparta (Sussex County), 56 mph in Stewartsville (Warren County), 53 mph at the Cape May Coast Guard Station, 48 mph at Barnegat Light (Ocean County) and Mount Holly (Burlington County), 46 mph in Trenton (Mercer County), Wildwood (Cape May County) and Whitehouse Station (Hunterdon County) and 44 mph at the Atlantic City International Airport. Record breaking high temperatures occurred at both the Philadelphia (65 degrees) and Lehigh Valley (63 degrees) International Airports on the 17th, but fell one degree short of tying (64 degrees and 63 degrees respectively) the record at both the Atlantic City International Airport and the Marina within Atlantic City.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

24 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Western Ocean

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Western Ocean forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.866, -74.250 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Middlesex

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 AM EST
Where: Middlesex forecast zone
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.440, -74.409 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Morris

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 AM EST
Where: Morris forecast zone
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.862, -74.544 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Sussex

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 AM EST
Where: Sussex forecast zone
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.140, -74.690 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Western Monmouth

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 AM EST
Where: Western Monmouth forecast zone
Measured: 61 kt (70 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.288, -74.158 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Burlington

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Burlington forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.878, -74.668 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Camden

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Camden forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.804, -74.960 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Cumberland

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Cumberland forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.328, -75.129 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Eastern Atlantic

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Eastern Atlantic forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.469, -74.634 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Eastern Cape May

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Eastern Cape May forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.085, -74.850 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Eastern Monmouth

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Eastern Monmouth forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.288, -74.158 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Eastern Ocean

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Eastern Ocean forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.866, -74.250 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Gloucester

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Gloucester forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.717, -75.142 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Hunterdon

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Hunterdon forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.567, -74.912 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Mercer

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Mercer forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.283, -74.702 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Salem

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Salem forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.577, -75.358 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Somerset

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Somerset forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.564, -74.616 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Warren

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Warren forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.857, -74.997 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Western Atlantic

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Western Atlantic forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.469, -74.634 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Western Cape May

When: December 17, 4:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Western Cape May forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.085, -74.850 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Western Monmouth

When: December 17, 11:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Western Monmouth forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.288, -74.158 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Middlesex

When: December 17, 11:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Middlesex forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.440, -74.409 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Morris

When: December 17, 11:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Morris forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.862, -74.544 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Sussex

When: December 17, 11:00 AM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Sussex forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.140, -74.690 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in New Jersey in 2000 Every state in 2000 This day in weather history Warnings in New Jersey, December 2000

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5166916, 5167851, 5167852, 5167853, 5167854, 5167960, 5167961, 5167962, 5167963, 5167964, 5167965, 5167966, 5167967, 5167968, 5167969, 5167972, 5167973, 5167975, 5167976, 5167977, 5166915, 5167970, 5167971, 5167974.