Lightning Strike in New Jersey, April 8, 2001

Name: Lightning Strike in New Jersey, April 8, 2001
Start: 2001-04-08T10:40
End: 2001-04-08T10:40
Location: New Jersey

April 8, 2001 · NWS PHI · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

Lightning struck the mausoleum of former New Jersey Governor Edward Stokes in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Millville. The lightning stroke cracked through the right front corner of the mausoleum's roof and littered the floor of the mausoleum with shattered marble. The stroke blew a 4 to 6 inch hole in Stoke's crypt. It also blasted a two foot thick block near the mausoleum's foundation. The lightning then struck a water faucet outside of the mausoleum and traveled along the pipe and popped through the asphalt ten feet from the faucet on the opposite side of the mausoleum. None of the caskets were damaged.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 8, 8:38 AM EST, 2 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 8, 8:38 AM EST, 2 hours 2 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
938 AM EDT SUN APR 8 2001

ADDITIONAL UPDATE TO PUT THUNDER IN RMNDR OF SRN ZNS AS RADAR SHOWING
AREA CNVCTN MOVG INTO AND THRU AREA.

REST SAME AS B4...          -JWH-

********************************************************************

WL UPDATE YET AGAIN TO ADD THUNDER TO NRN CSTL ZONES WHERE I THOUGHT
IT WOULD BE A BIT MORE STABLE...AND ALSO TO ADD CHC SHWRS TO SRN
AREAS WHERE ONLY SPKLS WAS MENTIONED.

REST AS FROM PREVIOUS...

******************************************************************

WL UPDATE ZONES TO INCLUDE A CHC OF A MRNG THUNDERSTORM TO ZONES FM
PHL/ILG AND N...EXCEPT NOT FOR CSTL ZONES WHERE PBLY MORE STABLE.
SCT RW/TRW ACTIVITY OVR CNTRL AND NERN PA IS STARTING TO INITIATE
OVR SWRN PA...AND WUD XPCT THIS ACTIVITY TO DMSH DURG MRNG AS APRNT
UPPER S/WV MOVS PAST.

REST FM PREVIOUS...

*******************************************************************

NOT A HIGH CONFIDENCE FORECAST...SO WILL KEEP THE DISCUSSION SIMPLE.
AM HANGING THE TEMPERATURE FORECAST LARGELY ON THE SFC BASED LI
FIELDS FROM THE ETA AND TO A LESSER EXTENT THE AVN. THE INDICATION
THAT STABLE AIR WILL HOLD IN ALL BUT THE FAR SRN ZONES TODAY IS ALSO
SUPPORTED BY NO MORE THAN MODERATE FLOW ABOVE THE SFC MUCH OF THE
DAY AND THE BAGGINESS IN THE SFC PRESSURE FIELD THAT MOVES OFF THE
COAST AND E OF THE FA. THE FORMER INDICATES SCOURING OF THE STABLE
AIR WILL BE TOUGH...AND THE LATTER HINTS AT SOME BRIEF REINFORCEMENT
OF THE STABLE AIR.

******* UPDATED...MEANWHILE AT MID LEVEL THE RIDGE AXIS PASSED TO
OUR E TONIGHT...AND AN IMPULSE MOVING INTO IT IS TRIGGERING SHOWERS
AND EVEN THUNDERSTORMS IN THE VICINITY OF THE SFC FRONT TO OUR W.
SINCE EXPECT US TO STAY STABLE TODAY...DONT ANTICIPATE ANY NASTY
WEATHER. HOWEVER GIVEN ACTIVITY TO THE W HAVE DECIDED TO BRING
SHOWERS FURTHER S THAN PREV THOUGHT. DOWN FAR S...STILL THINKING
SOME ISENT LIFT OVER THE STABLE AIR THIS AM TO CAUSE SOME
SPRINKLES. *******

TONIGHT WILL FORECAST THE STABLE AIR TO FINALLY GIVE IT UP OVER FA.
IF IT HAPPENS...IT WILL ALLOW SKIES TO BREAK. UNFORTUNATELY...THE
BAROCLINIC ZONE DOESNT APPEAR TO MAKE IT VERY FAR N BEFORE ANOTHER
IMPULSE PERHAPS MOVES ALONG IT AND FORCES IT BACK DOWN INTO FA...
HENCE THE LATE DAY THIRD PD POPS CENTRAL AND N AND THE CHC ALL ZONES
FOURTH PD. WITH CAPES AND LIS INDICATING INSTABILITY ON THE WARM
SIDE OF THE FRONT...FELT IT WORTH MENTIONING THUNDER.

IF THE ABOVE SCENARIO IS CORRECT...THEN FCST MAX TEMPS TODAY IN THE
STABLE AIR ARE LIKELY TOO HIGH...BUT WITH A LACK OF CONFIDENCE FELT
SOME SEMBLANCE OF CONTINUITY WAS CALLED FOR. HAVE ALREADY CUT
GUIDANCE QUITE A BIT EXCEPT FAR S. TONIGHT TEMPS MAY ACTUALLY RISE
OVER PORTIONS OF FA. AGAIN...NOT CONFIDENT ENOUGH TO PUT IN SUCH
DETAIL. TMRW AND TMRW NITE HOPEFULLY THE STAT GUIDANCE HAS US IN THE
RIGHT AIR MASS AND IT WAS GENERALLY ACCEPTED.

ON THE MARINE...SCA CONT ON OCEAN FNT FOR SEAS. ALSO CONTINUE THE
MENTION OF MINOR TIDAL FLOODING.

.PHI...
DE...SML CRFT ADVSRY ALNG ATLC CST. MINOR TIDAL FLOODING COAST AND
     DE BAY.
MD...NONE.
NJ...SML CRFT ADVSRY ALNG ATLC CST. MINOR TIDAL FLOODING COAST AND
     DE BAY.
PA...NONE.

MPD

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 8, 5:10 AM EST, 5 hours 30 minutes before

DEZ002>004-NJZ012>014-020>026-081600-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT - MINOR TIDAL FLOODING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
610 AM EDT SUN APR 8 2001

...MINOR TIDAL FLOODING IS POSSIBLE THIS MORNING...

AN EASTERLY WIND WILL PERSIST ALONG THE NEW JERSEY AND DELAWARE
COASTS THIS MORNING. THE ONSHORE WIND FLOW...ALONG WITH THE HIGH
ASTRONOMICAL TIDES ASSOCIATED WITH THE FULL MOON...MAY RESULT IN
MINOR FLOODING AROUND THE TIMES OF HIGH TIDE THIS MORNING.

HIGH TIDE OCCURS ALONG THE NEW JERSEY AND DELAWARE OCEANFRONT FROM
AROUND 800 AM TO 930 AM THIS MORNING. THE TIDE LEVELS PEAK A LITTLE
LATER IN THE BACK BAYS...IN RARITAN BAY...AND IN DELAWARE BAY.

DO NOT PARK YOUR VEHICLE IN A LOCATION THAT IS USUALLY SUSCEPTIBLE
TO TIDAL FLOODING.

TUNE TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION.  YOU CAN
ACCESS THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ON THE INTERNET AT THE FOLLOWING
ADDRESS...WEATHER.NOAA.GOV/PHI (ALL IN LOWER CASE).

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Cumberland

When: April 8, 10:40 AM EST
Where: Cumberland County, Millville
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.328, -75.129 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in New Jersey in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in New Jersey, April 2001

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: 5240647.