Flooding and Rip Currents in New Jersey, July 18 to 22, 2001

Name: Flooding and Rip Currents in New Jersey, July 18 to 22, 2001
Start: 2001-07-18T05:00
End: 2001-07-22T17:00
Location: New Jersey

July 18 to 22, 2001 · NWS PHI · 6 events in 6 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 6 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: 1
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 6

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.

The combination of a weak low pressure system that traveled east off the Delmarva Coastal Waters on the 18th and 19th, a high pressure system that built into New England and then south toward the New Jersey Coast and spring tides caused by the new moon produced minor tidal flooding and rip currents along the New Jersey coast. Rip currents and rough surf occurred from Wednesday the 18th through Sunday the 22nd. They peaked on Friday the 20th. Cautionary bathing flags were posted up and down the shore as four to six foot waves were common. Minor tidal flooding occurred during the evening of the 19th (the highest in this cycle) in Monmouth and Cape May Counties and the two subsequent evenings in Cape May County. The highest tides were 7.30 feet above mean lower low water at Cape May City and 6.79 feet above mean lower low water at Sandy Hook around 8 p.m. EDT on the 19th. The rough surf caused at least one reported injury when a 41-year-old man dislocated his shoulder after his kayak overturned near Atlantic City.

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 Jul 18, 2:04 AM EST, 2 hours 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 18, 2:04 AM EST, 2 hours 56 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
304 AM EDT WED JUL 18 2001

CONVTN THAT FIRED YDA ALG BACKDOOR FNT HAS SHIFTED TO SRN PTNS OF
THE CWA ERY THIS MRNG. WL KEEP A CHC OF RW/TRW NRN ZONES TIL
MIDDAY/ERY AFTN AS PER MODEL DRYING...AND LIKELY CNTRL ZONES AS
THERE IS STILL A GOOD BIT OF INSTABY WHICH CUD BE REALIZED BY S/WVS
ROTATING THRU THE UPPER FLOW. THIS IS A JUST BIT LWR THAN
FWC/MAV/FAN POPS WHICH MAY BE A BIT OVERDONE. FOR SRN ZONES...SRN NJ
AND DELMARVA...WL GO WITH MODEL CAT POPS AS THIS IS INVOF SFC BNDRY.
WHERE POPS ARE LIKELY OR HIR...WL MENTION PSBLTY OF HVY DOWNPOURS
WITH HI PWATS AND SLUGGISH UPPER FLOW. THE ABOVE THINKING FITS
ACCEPTABLY WELL WITH NCEP/S 24 HR QPF FCST. WL ALSO KEEP A CHC
RW/TRW THESE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED ZONES TO ACCOUNT FOR ANY DIURNAL
ACTIVITY. THEN...WL LOWER POPS FOR THU AFTN/THU NITE CLOSER TO MODEL
GUIDANCE AS UPPER LO CLOSES OFF EAST OF US AND TIMING MAY BE RIGHT
FOR ANOTHER LOBE TO SWING THROUGH THE REGION. THUS WL HAVE A CHC
RW/TRW SRN TWO-THIRDS OF CWA...20 POP OR LESS NRN THIRD.

WITH LOTS OF LO LVL MSTR ARND...SPCLY WHERE IT RAINED EXTRM E
PA/CNTRL NJ...WL MENTION PTCHY FOG ERY THIS MRNG.

TEMPS...NOT MUCH TO QUIBBLE ABOUT SO MODEL TEMPS ARE ACCEPTED. WITH
LTL SUN AND ONSHORE FLOW N OF THE BOUNDARY...MAX TEMPS SHUD BE BLO
NORMAL TDA.

ON MARINE...WL KEEP A HEADLINE THAT SCA MAY BE NEEDED THU ON THE
OCEAN AND LWR BAY.

.PHI...NONE.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 rip current, 2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Atlantic

When: July 18, 5:00 AM EST to July 22, 5:00 PM EST
Where: Atlantic County, Brigantine
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 39.469, -74.634 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Rip Current, Cape May

When: July 18, 5:00 AM EST to July 22, 5:00 PM EST
Where: Cape May County, Ocean City
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 39.085, -74.850 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Rip Current, Monmouth

When: July 18, 5:00 AM EST to July 22, 5:00 PM EST
Where: Monmouth County, Highland Beach
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 40.288, -74.158 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Rip Current, Ocean

When: July 18, 5:00 AM EST to July 22, 5:00 PM EST
Where: Ocean County, Pt Pleasant Beach
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 39.866, -74.250 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Eastern Cape May

When: July 19, 6:00 PM EST to July 21, 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)

Flood, Eastern Monmouth

When: July 19, 6:00 PM EST to 8:00 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)

What these are

Rip Current: A narrow, fast current flowing away from the beach that caused a drowning or rescue.
Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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, July 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: 5260504, 5260505, 5260506, 5260507, 5260508, 5260509.