Hail and Lightning Strikes in New Jersey, May 29, 2001

Name: Hail and Lightning Strikes in New Jersey, May 29, 2001
Start: 2001-05-29T14:05
End: 2001-05-29T17:45
Location: New Jersey

May 29, 2001 · NWS OKX · 5 events in 4 counties and zones

Scattered severe thunderstorms developed in a humid unstable air mass ahead of an approaching cold front from the northwest. Lightning struck and injured 2 people: a crossing guard in Hackensack and an 11 year old girl in Linden.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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: 2
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

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 OKX wrote it up.

Scattered severe thunderstorms developed in a humid unstable air mass ahead of an approaching cold front from the northwest. As they moved east at about 40 mph, they generated 3/4-inch diameter hail and frequent cloud to ground lightning.Lightning struck and injured 2 people: a crossing guard in Hackensack and an 11 year old girl in Linden. The girl was struck at 6:36 pm EDT on McCandless Street while she was walking toward school and was critically injured. Lightning struck and damaged several houses: one on Greenwood Drive in Millburn, two in Linden and one in Elizabeth. In Millburn, lightning ignited a fire that destroyed parts of the second floor in the front part of the house. Cost estimates of the property damage was unavailable.

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 New York, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 29, 1:25 PM EST, 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 29, 1:25 PM EST, 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
225 PM EDT TUE MAY 29 2001

SYNOPSIS...SERIES OF PROGRESSIVE AND ABNORMALLY DEEP TROUGHS TO
AFFECT THE REGION NEXT 5 DAYS.

SHORT TERM...STRONG UPPER SHORT WAVE NOW AFFECTING THE REGION. MAIN
DYNAMICAL FORCING TO THE SOUTH OF THE REGION THUS RESULTING IN
COASTAL LOW DEVELOPMENT BOMBING WELL OFFSHORE OVERNIGHT.
CURRENTLY...BROAD COLD FRONT MOVING ACROSS THE WESTERN PART OF THE
CWA WITH SHRA AND TSRA. SOME HAIL POTENTIAL FROM THESE PULSE
STORMS...BUT IT/S LOW. LATEST ACARS SOUNDING SHOWING A SIMILAR
PROFILE TO KPIT FROM THIS MORNING...WHICH WITH A 70 F MAX RESULTING
IN A -4 TO -5 LI.

WILL HAVE A REST OF TODAY PERIOD TO COVER THE CONVECTION.

TONIGHT...GRADUAL CLEARING IN THE STRONG CAA.

WEDNESDAY...CAA ALLOWS FOR FREQUENT GUSTS TO 20 MPH AT SFC. WITH
STRONG LATE MAY SUN...CUMULUS WILL ATTEMPT TO BOIL...BUT EXPECT
DOWNSLOPE DRYING IN THE NW FLOW TO MINIMIZE THIS. WILL HAVE PARTLY
SUNNY INLAND AND BE OPTIMISTIC WITH A MOSTLY SUNNY AT THE COAST.
TEMPS WILL BE 10 TO 15 BELOW NORMAL WITH NUMBERS OF THE MAV WHICH
SEEM A LOT MORE REASONABLE THAN THE FWC'S.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT...CLEAR AND COOL. RECORD LOWS ARE IN THE 40S...BUT
WE'LL STAY ABOVE THESE DUE TO THE WIND. NOTE...UPPER TROUGH IS
NEARLY 2 SIGMA FROM NORMAL!

THURSDAY...NO PROBLEMS.

EXTENDED...NEXT SYSTEM DROPPING OUT OF THE GREAT ALSO A
SIGNIFICANTLY CLIMATE DEVIATED SYSTEM. BASED EXTEND ON AVN WHICH
BASED ON ENSEMBLES HAS GOOD CONSISTENCY. BOTH FRI AND SAT APPEAR WET
WITH MORE COOL WX FOR SUNDAY IN WAKE OF THE SYSTEM.

MARINE...STILL A MINIMAL SCA FOR WEDNESDAY. DO NOT PLAN TO ISSUE YE[T
PENDING COORDINATION.

.OKX...
.CT...NONE.
.NJ...NONE.
.NY...NONE.
MARINE...NONE.

TONGUE

The radar

The Brookhaven radar (KOKX), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:03 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 lightning, 2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Bergen

When: May 29, 2:05 PM EST
Where: Bergen County, Lodi
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.883, -74.100

Hail, Passaic

When: May 29, 2:10 PM EST
Where: Passaic County, Wayne
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.933, -74.250

Lightning, Bergen

When: May 29, 2:30 PM EST
Where: Bergen County, Hackensack
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.960, -74.074 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lightning, Essex

When: May 29, 5:35 PM EST
Where: Essex County, Millburn
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.787, -74.247 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lightning, Union

When: May 29, 5:36 PM EST to 5:45 PM EST
Where: Union County, Linden
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.660, -74.309 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
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, May 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: 5245604, 5245605, 5245606, 5245608, 5245607.