F1 tornado, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, February 12, 1999

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F1

Date

February 12, 1999

Touchdown

6:25 PM EST (23:25 UTC)

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

40 yards (37 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

County

Camden County

Touchdown point

39.920, -75.020

Lift-off point

39.920, -75.020

Record number

158

A squall line of strong to locally severe thunderstorms spawned a weak tornado (F1 on the Fujita Scale) as it moved through southeastern Cherry Hill. The tornado briefly touched down in the Kate Court and Partridge Lane area and caused major damage to one house and moderate damage to about 12 other homes. Several sheds were destroyed. There was also considerable shingle and siding damage. One screened in porch was destroyed. Some of the damage was caused by airborne missiles which fell onto roofs and embedded into the ground. This included pieces of a stockade fence. The tornado's path length was estimated at 0.5 miles. Its path width was about 40 yards. Damage was estimated at $100,000. No serious injuries were reported. An unseasonably warm air mass and a strong cold front conspired to produce the tornado. Preceding the tornado, high temperatures soared to record breaking levels at both the Philadelphia (70 degrees, previous record 61 degrees set in 1898) and Atlantic City (62 degrees, previous record 61 degrees set in 1951) International Airports.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

South Jersey Regional Airport (VAY), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 52 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:26 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1999 tornado in New JerseyEvery tornado in New Jersey since 1950Warnings in force in New Jersey nowThe forecast where you are

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.