F1 tornado, Trenton, New Jersey, September 23, 2003

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

September 23, 2003

Touchdown

8:15 AM EDT (12:15 UTC)

Path length

5.0 miles (8.0 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.0 million

County

Mercer County

Touchdown point

40.220, -74.750

Lift-off point

40.270, -74.730

Record number

649

An F1 tornado (on the Fujita Scale) touched down in the eastern part of Trenton around Hillcrest and traveled northeast passing through the southern part of Ewing Township and into southwestern half of Lawrence Township before it lifted around the Franklin Corner area. Two persons were injured and many people were trapped in the vehicles. The worst wind damage and the strongest part of the tornado occurred near the intersection of Prospect Street and Olden Avenue in Ewing Township. Utility poles were snapped, power lines were on vehicles, store front windows were smashed and a couple of roofs were torn away. The roof of a chapel, towing service and Cadillac dealership were all badly damaged. Many vehicles at the dealership were damaged. Olden Avenue was closed for several days while debris was removed. Two trees fell through a home on Hazelhurst Avenue. A school bus was trapped by downed wires, but no children were injured. dealership lost its roof. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down and several telephone poles were snapped. In Lawrence Township, most of the tornado's damage occurred to the trees. Hundreds of stately trees were either snapped or uprooted. Numerous large trees were knocked down particularly along U.S. Routes 1 and 206 and the Princeton Pike. Other roadways with extensive tree damage included Darrah Lane, Stonicker Drive and Texas Avenue. The door was pulled from one home on Glenn Avenue. The roof of the library was peeled by the high winds. Downed trees and lines left many side streets impassable. The tornado remained on the ground for about five miles and its path width was about 100 yards. The estimated maximum winds were around 90 mph and the preliminary damage estimate was one million dollars. More than 50,000 homes and business lost power in Mercer, Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties because of the squall line of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. All power was restored by the afternoon of the 24th.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS PHI issued a tornado warning for this county at 12:14 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 12:45 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:16 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Trenton/Mercer Co. (TTN), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 43 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:16 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 2003 tornado in New JerseyEvery tornado in New Jersey since 1950Warnings in force in New Jersey nowThe forecast where you are

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.