A strong westerly flow occurred across New Jersey during the day on the 15th. It was caused by the pressure gradient (difference) between an intensifying low pressure system heading through the Saint Lawrence Valley and a high pressure system building east from the Lower Mississippi Valley.
Every event with a place to put it; 21 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS PHI wrote it up.
A strong westerly flow occurred across New Jersey during the day on the 15th. It was caused by the pressure gradient (difference) between an intensifying low pressure system heading through the Saint Lawrence Valley and a high pressure system building east from the Lower Mississippi Valley. Peak wind gusts averaged between 45 and 55 mph with the strongest gusts along the immediate shore and the northwest part of the state. A 34-year-old woman was injured in Princeton when a tree fell on her vehicle. Downed trees and power lines caused over 10,000 homes and businesses to lose power and damaged numerous vehicles and several homes. In Sussex County, three roads were closed in Newton because of downed poles and trees. In Montague, a tree fell onto a house. About 1,300 homes and businesses lost power. In Morris County, a 50 foot tree and a snapped pole fell across two of the westbound lanes of New Jersey State Route 10 in Denville and caused a major traffic backup. Downed trees and wires were reported in six other municipalities in the county. A downed tree damaged a home in Randolph Township. About 1,100 homes and businesses lost power in the county. Throughout the central and northern part of New Jersey, about 8,000 Jersey Central Power and Light customers lost power. The worst outages were in Freehold and Union Beach in Monmouth County. All power was restored by the morning of the 16th. In Mercer County, a 34-year-old woman suffered a head injury when a Bradford Pear tree split and fell on her vehicle in Princeton. Her 14-month-old daughter was not hurt. Numerous trees and wires were knocked down in West Windsor and Princeton Townships in Mercer County. Public Service Electric and Gas reported about 3,000 of its customers in the southwest part of the state lost power because of the strong winds. Peak wind gusts included 57 mph in Sparta (Sussex County), 56 mph in Sandy Hook (Monmouth County), 54 mph in Keansburg (Monmouth County), 48 mph in Cape May (Cape May County) and Morristown (Morris County), 46 mph in Point Pleasant (Ocean County) and 45 mph at the Atlantic City International Airport.
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 Oct 15, 4:10 AM EST, 1 hour 50 minutes earlier.
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>DEZ001>004-MDZ008-012-015-019-020-NJZ001-007>010-012>027-PAZ054-055- 060>062-067>071-151145- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 555 AM EDT WED OCT 15 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA...DELAWARE...THE NORTHERN MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE...AND NEW JERSEY EXCLUDING THE FIVE NORTHEAST COUNTIES. .DAY ONE...TODAY WIND ADVISORIES HAVE BEEN POSTED FOR INLAND COUNTIES, GALES ARE UP ALONG THE COAST. WIND GUSTS COULD APPROACH 50 MPH. PLEASE REFER TO OUR NPWPHI WWUS71 KPHI. MINOR TIDAL FLOODING AT TIMES OF HIGH TIDE THIS MORNING ALONG WITH INCREASED WAVE ACTION ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE EASTERN SHORE OF THE CHESAPEAKE. OUR LATEST SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT GOES INTO MORE DETAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. KRUZDLO
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html><!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html><!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html><!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>DEZ002-MDZ008-012-015-019-151430- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 540 AM EDT WED OCT 15 2003 ...MINOR TIDAL FLOODING POSSIBLE ON THE EASTERN SHORE THIS MORNING... STRONG EAST TO SOUTHEAST WINDS BROUGHT THE TIDAL DEPARTURES UP TO 2 FEET ABOVE NORMAL IN THE UPPER CHESAPEAKE BAY. THE WINDS HAVE SHIFTED AND NOW BLOWING FROM THE WEST THIS MORNING. THERE IS A HIGH WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FOR WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH OCCASIONAL GUSTS TO 50 MPH. HIGH TIDE AT TOLCHESTER BEACH OCCURS AT 1041 THIS MORNING WITH A HEIGHT AROUND 3.0 FT ABOVE MLLW. THIS IS JUST BELOW THE MINOR TIDAL FLOODING MARK OF 3.5 FT. AT CAMBRIDGE ON THE CHOPTANK RIVER HIGH TIDE IS AT 729 THIS MORNING WITH AN EXPECTED HEIGHT OF 3.5 FT ABOVE MLLW OR MINOR TIDAL FLOODING. THE HIGH TIDE AT KENTS NARROWS OCCURS AT 833 AM. WITH THE TIDAL DEPARTURES OF 2 FT AND THE STRONG WINDS BLOWING FROM WEST TO EAST TOWARD THE EASTERN SHORE...MINOR FLOODING IS POSSIBLE THIS MORNING. EBERWINE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
21 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Jersey in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in New Jersey, October 2003
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5371455, 5371382, 5371383, 5371384, 5371385, 5371386, 5371387, 5371388, 5371389, 5371390, 5371391, 5371392, 5371393, 5371394, 5371395, 5371451, 5371452, 5371453, 5371454, 5371456, 5371457.