High Wind in New Jersey, November 13, 2003

The combination of a rapidly deepening low pressure system moving through the Saint Lawrence Valley and a high pressure system building in from the Plains States produced high winds across New Jersey. The strongest winds occurred during two time periods: in the morning shortly after the low pressure system's cold frontal passage and during the afternoon. The peak wind gusts of the event mainly occurred during the afternoon. Several people were injured by downed trees. A couple of buildings collapsed. Numerous trees, tree limbs, transformers and wires were knocked down and damaged homes and vehicles. Scattered transformer fires occurred. In some instances poles were snapped. Numerous roads were closed including some major roadways. The afternoon and evening commute was difficult because of many closed roads. Emergency personnel had the added problem with road closures because the high winds were blowing away the plastic and wood road barriers. Shingles, chimney covers, gutters and siding were ripped from houses and fences were damaged by downed limbs and trees. Vehicles were damaged by fallen trees and/or flying debris. Awnings were torn away, store windows damaged, roadway business signs were knocked down as were overhead traffic signs and traffic signals. Trash and recycling cans were tossed in the middle of roads. Cart shelters tumbled in shopping centers. Some schools had early dismissal because of the lost power and many scholastic games were cancelled. The high winds made it very difficult to fight fires. It also led to blow out tides at times of low tide during the evening of the 13th and 14th along coastal areas and tidal sections of the Delaware River and its tributaries. Sections of many major roads were closed including the Garden State Parkway, U.S. Routes 202, 206 and 46 and New Jersey State Route 12. About 150,000 homes and business lost power in the state: Public Service Electric and Gas reported about 62,200 outages, Conectiv Energy reported about 54,000 outages and Jersey Central Power and Light about 23,000 outages and 400 poles down. All power was restored by the 15th. In Sussex County, a student at the Sussex County Community College was trapped in an elevator for 30 minutes after a brush fire occurred near the College and power was lost. About 1,600 county residents lost power with major outages in Newton and near the Stokes State Forest. In Warren County, a 45-year-old man was injured when a tree fell on him near the Econo-Court Motel on U.S. Route 46. The route itself was closed in several locations because of downed trees. A house in the Vienna section of Independence Township suffered gutter damage after a tree fell on it. In Morris County, two homes were damaged by fallen trees in Pequannock Township. About 20 percent of Boonton Township lost power. Cranes were needed to remove the large trees. In Hunterdon County, a tree fell on a bus in Clinton Township. No injuries occurred. Sections of New Jersey State Routes 12, 31 and U.S. Route 202 were closed. About 8,000 homes and businesses in the county lost power. In Somerset County, several injuries occurred. In Somerville, seven utility poles snapped at 430 p.m. on South Bridge Street and crushed a vehicle. The 56-year-old driver cut his head. Another uninjured driver was temporarily trapped by the downed wires. In Raritan Borough, pieces of a roof tore away and caused leg injuries to an onlooker. In Bernardsville Borough, a 21-year-old man suffered leg and back injuries after the wind knocked him off his ladder. In the Basking Ridge section of Bernards Township, a postal worker was hit in the head by a tree limb. A tree fell through a house in Bernardsville. In Branchburg Township, students were evacuated from the Whiton School after winds downed a transformer and started a fire. Sections of New Jersey State Route 28 and U.S. Routes 202 and 206 were closed because of downed trees and wires. In Monmouth County in a reverse of the blowout tides, wind driven waters from Sandy Hook Bay washed over the access road to the Sandy Hook unit of the Gateway National Recreational Area. A similar effect caused by Barnegat Bay occurred in Ocean County. About 9,000 homes and businesses lost power in Ocean and Monmouth Counties. Elsewhere in Ocean County, the southbound lanes of the Garden State Parkway were backed up because of downed trees. Power outages were concentrated in the Holiday City section of Berkeley Township. In Mercer County, a roof partially tore off a home in Trenton and a tree fell on a Princeton home. In Burlington County, a driver was uninjured in spite of a tree that landed on his vehicle in Medford Township. The hardest hit locations in the county were Cinnaminson and Willingboro Townships. In Camden County, school children were not injured when a tree fell on their bus when leaving Saint Jude's School in Gloucester Township. In Camden, a large building in the process of being converted to housing collapsed in pieces between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. EST.In Cherry Hill, the wind fanned a blaze at a warehouse. The wind carried embers to the Woodcrest Development. Oversized insulation panels caught fire apparently by a acetylene torch. In Gloucester County, an addition to a home in Woolwich Township collapsed. In Atlantic County, the Atlantic City Police and Fire Communication Center lost power for an hour. Nearly all of Absecon lost power. In Cape May County, a 28 foot empty boxcar overturned on the northbound lanes of the Garden State Parkway in Upper Township. The Cape May Lewes Ferry suspended service for the rest of the day on the 13th. The high wind damaged the roofs of the Sea Isle City Bar and Hotel and the Lollipop Motel in North Wildwood. In Cumberland County, a Shiloh Borough orchard's produce packing warehouse collapsed. The winds caused a concrete wall to topple sending it into a corrugated metal roof. Two duck hunters were rescued after becoming stranded on a mud flat after grounding their skiff near the mouth of the bay in Dividing Creek. About 20,000 homes and businesses lost power in the county including the county administration building, library and state police barracks in Port Norris. Peak wind gusts included 67 mph in High Point (Sussex County) and Sandy Hook (Monmouth County), 65 mph in Cape May City (Cape May County), 62 mph in Barnegat (Ocean County), 61 mph in Lumberton (Burlington County) and Stone Harbor (Cape May County), 60 mph at the Atlantic City Marina, 55 mph in Belmar (Monmouth County), 54 mph in Hillsborough (Somerset County) and the Atlantic City International Airport, 53 mph in Hamilton (Mercer County), 52 mph in Morristown (Morris County) and Millville (Cumberland County) and 48 mph in Trenton (Mercer County). The high winds were caused by the pressure difference between the low pressure system in the Saint Lawrence Valley and a high pressure system in the Central Plains. The low intensified from a 1004 millibar system over Lake Superior the morning of the 12th, to a 982 millibar low near Montreal the morning of the 13th to a 970 millibar low in the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River the morning of the 14th. Some strong wind gusts also occurred on the 14th and hampered power restoration work. Winds diminished for good during the evening of the 14th.