Tornado, Burlington
- When
- October 27, 3:39 PM EST
- Where
- Burlington County, Hainesport
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.5 mi
- Path width
- 30 yd
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- NWS STORM SURVEY
- Coordinates
- 39.983, -74.833
Tornado in New Jersey, October 27, 2003
A weak tornado (F0 on the Fujita Scale) touched down in a wooded area between Marne Highway and the Holly Bowl bowling alley in Hainesport Township. It moved east and lifted just before crossing New Jersey State Route 38.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 1
- 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.
A weak tornado (F0 on the Fujita Scale) touched down in a wooded area between Marne Highway and the Holly Bowl bowling alley in Hainesport Township. It moved east and lifted just before crossing New Jersey State Route 38. The tornado snapped large tree limbs and tossed them. A nine inch wide limb was tossed about 100 feet and struck and killed a 77-year-old woman who was about to enter her vehicle in the Holly Bowl parking lot. She suffered massive head trauma and spinal cord injuries. The same limb damaged her and two neighboring vehicles. The tornado caused small damage to the bowling alley's roof, smashed a fence and toppled a couple of light standards. It was the first tornado related death in New Jersey since August 25, 1941 in Gloucester County. The tornado was on the ground for about a half mile and its maximum path width was 30 yards. The strongest speed of the tornado was estimated at 70 mph.
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 Oct 27, 3:20 PM EST, 19 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Oct 27, 3:20 PM EST, 19 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Oct 27, 12:57 PM EST, 2 hours 42 minutes before
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</html>The radar
The Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 36 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:39 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
The people who died
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado, Burlington | 2003-10-27 | 77 | Female | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- High Wind in Connecticut, October 27, 2003
- Heavy Rain in Pennsylvania, October 27, 2003
- Heavy Rain in New Jersey, October 27, 2003
- Heavy Snow in Minnesota, October 27 to 28, 2003
- Flooding in New Hampshire, October 27 to 30, 2003
- High Wind in Montana, October 27, 2003
- Damaging Winds in New York, October 27, 2003
- Damaging Winds in Connecticut, October 27, 2003
- High Wind in Maine, October 27 to 28, 2003
- Flooding in New York, October 27 to 28, 2003
- Damaging Wind in New Jersey, October 27, 2003
- Flood in Pennsylvania, October 27, 2003
More
Every storm in New Jersey in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for New Jersey, 2003Warnings in New Jersey, October 2003
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5371873.