Strong to high west to northwest winds affected New Jersey from the evening of the 18th into the evening of the 19th. Peak wind gusts averaged around 55 mph. The winds tore down trees, tree limbs and wires and caused power outages. Most of the highest winds and damage occurred in the central and southern part of the state. About 22,000 homes and businesses lost power. While more than two-thirds of the outages were resolved by the evening of the 19th, full power restoration did not occur until the evening of the 20th. All Delaware River Bridges in the local Philadelphia area had speed reductions and banned empty tractor-trailers through the evening of the 19th. The PATCO high speed commuter rail line into Philadelphia was shut down during the morning because of a power outage. The stronger winds began following a cold frontal passage on the evening of the 18th. The strong to high winds reached their peak speeds during the late morning and afternoon of the 19th and then slowly decreased during the evening of the 19th. | |In Middlesex County, three poles were snapped by the high winds on U.S. Route 1 in Plainsboro and closed two northbound lanes into the evening. Uprooted trees damaged a couple of homes and vehicles. In Mercer County, a partial scaffolding collapse on a new overpass on Interstate 195 in Robbinsville near the New Jersey Turnpike western extension closed a traffic lane for several hours during the afternoon. Two telephone poles snapped in Robbinsville on Tindall Road. In Burlington County, a downed century old oak tree damaged the back of a home in Cinnaminson Township. In Edgewater Park, a greater than 200-year-old white pine tree was split in half. In Camden County, Gloucester Township reported about fourteen weather related incidences. Large trees were reported knocked down in Haddon and Cherry Hill Townships. In Salem County, four roadways were closed because of downed trees. Speed limit signs were also ripped down on Golfwood Avenue in Carneys Point Township. In Cumberland County, a downed tree damaged the nursery room and attic of an unoccupied home on Cambridge Street in Vineland. This was one of six wind related incidents in the city.
Peak wind gusts included 59 mph in Tuckerton (Ocean County), 58 mph in West Creek (Ocean County) and Wantage (Sussex County), 56 mph in Atlantic City (Atlantic County) and Cape May (Cape May County), 55 mph in Keansburg (Monmouth County), 54 mph in Cream Ridge and Sandy Hook (Monmouth County), Ewing (Mercer County), Florence (Burlington County) and Hillsborough (Somerset County), 53 mph in Bivalve (Cumberland County), Barnegat (Ocean County), Stewartsville (Warren County) and Perth Amboy (Middlesex County), 52 mph at the Atlantic City International Airport and Seaside Heights (Ocean County), 51 mph at Sandy Hook (Monmouth County), Ocean City (Cape May County), Millville (Cumberland County), Trenton (Mercer County) and Lumberton (Burlington County), 50 mph in Ringoes (Hunterdon County), 48 mph in Cape May (Cape May County), Kingwood (Hunterdon County), Somerville (Somerset Airport) and Chatsworth (Burlington County) and 47 mph in Blue Anchor (Camden County).
The strong to high winds were caused by the large pressure difference between a strong high pressure system building into the United States from central Canada and a low pressure system in the Canadian Maritimes. Winds started decreasing when the low pressure system moved east of the Canadian Maritimes on the night of the 19th and the high pressure system reached the Great Lakes.