EF3 Mullica Hill tornado, New Jersey, September 1, 2021

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mphthis tornado

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

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

6. EF5over 200 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

EF3

Date

September 1, 2021

Touchdown

6:10 PM EDT (22:10 UTC)

Lifted

6:30 PM EDT (22:30 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

12.4 miles (19.9 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$5.0 million

County

Gloucester County

Touchdown point

39.677, -75.250

Lift-off point

39.820, -75.110

Record number

2109011610-01

40 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PHI, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 150 mph.

• This damage was inconclusive and therefore determined to be straight-line winds
• 200W. May adjust speed if I can examine closer.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

The remnants of Hurricane Ida impacted the mid-Atlantic on September 1, 2021. As it moved northward, Ida began transitioning to a strong mid-latitude cyclone with pronounced frontal features, but with continued tropical moisture. On a regional level, the remnants of Ida became one of the most severe natural disasters in US history, due to a combination of several tornadoes, some of them strong, as well as catastrophic flooding over a large and densely populated area. The severe weather threat unfolded as the system's developing warm front lifted northward from the Delmarva region into Pennsylvania and New Jersey. South of the warm front, partial clearing and moderate to strong instability developed. Meanwhile, very strong shear and forcing, along with tropical moisture, were present within the warm sector. The result was widespread convection in the form of both supercell and quasi-linear thunderstorms. A number of storms became severe across the region, producing several tornadoes and other instances of wind damage. This continued an exceptionally active stretch of high end severe weather in the region, coming barely a month after the tornado outbreak of July 29.

The tornado touched down near Harrisonville, NJ doing mostly |damage to trees and limbs before strengthening and moving |northeast. As it moved to the northeast, it crossed into the Cedar|Grove area producing more significant damage to trees with many |trees uprooted. ||The tornado moved into the Willow Oaks subdivision strengthening |further and producing significant damage to trees, as well as |serious structural damage to a number of homes. Several homes had |exterior walls completely collapsed, a number of homes lost roofs |and upper story walls, and one home had only a few interior walls |remaining. Vehicles were tossed around and moved, and damage from |flying debris was observed in several spots.||The tornado continued to move to the northeast to Bridgeton Pike |where multiple trees had trunks snapped and most of the barns and |storage buildings at a large commercial farm were completely |destroyed. The tornado also reached its maximum width at this |location and was estimated to be around 400 yards wide.||The tornado then continued northeast through the woods with |multiple trees snapped before entering the subdivision at |Salvatore Drive. Here the tornado's most significant damage was |observed with one home completely destroyed with no interior or |exterior walls standing. Other homes in the subdivision had |exterior walls collapsed along with garage collapses and vehicles |being tossed around by the tornadic winds. The consistency of the |damage along the path of the tornado in this area was EF-3 in the |middle of the circulation, with EF-2 along the edge of the |circulation. In addition, the tree damage was not as extensive |behind the completely destroyed house. Based on the consistency of|the damage along Salvatore Drive, a rating of EF-3 (150 mph) was |determined.||The tornado continued to the northeast damaging trees and |structures along its path before reaching a large commercial dairy|farm where extensive damage occurred. Barns were destroyed and |two large grain silos were toppled. The tornado then crossed |Jefferson Road and crossed Eachus Road snapping multiple trees. |Thereafter, the tornado moved into the Breakneck Road area |producing complete deforestation with nearly 100 percent of the |trees in a thickly wooded area snapped. ||The tornado path crossed Main St, just south of Chestnut Branch |Park in Mantua Township snapping and uprooting a number of trees |before reaching the Delaware Valley Florist commercial greenhouse |mostly destroying the structure. The tornado damage path then |continued to the northeast reaching Wenonah, snapping and |uprooting a number of trees, a few homes lost roofs and one |structure collapsed. ||Less severe tree damage persisted to the northeast along the |tornado's path toward Deptford where the tornado lifted.

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS PHI issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:57 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:41 UTC and running to 01:54 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:46 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.

The Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:06 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 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.