UPDATE: Thousands of power outages occur around New Jersey due to severe thunderstorms.
Strong thunderstorm clusters have begun to move into areas of New Jersey Thursday afternoon. Some storm cells are producing heavy rain, small hail, and strong gusts of wind.
The National Weather Service issued the first of multiple severe thunderstorm warnings for our area at approximately 3:35 p.m. On this hot summer day, scattered storm cells are predicted to form during the evening, leading to additional alerts.
The initial thunderstorm warning, which lasted until 4:15 p.m. Thursday, encompassed the majority of Sussex County, the north-central region of Warren County in northwest New Jersey, and the east-central region of Monroe County in northeastern Pennsylvania.
This specific storm cell could produce penny-sized hail and wind gusts of up to 60 mph, according to the weather service.
Latest N.J. storm warnings
The following are some of the most recent weather warnings that were issued Thursday in the New Jersey area:
Northeastern Monmouth County was under a severe thunderstorm warning from 6:43 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Hunterdon and Warren counties at 6:11 p.m., which would last until 10:15 p.m.
A severe thunderstorm warning for Middlesex, Morris, and Somerset counties was issued at 5:53 p.m. and lasted until 6:30 p.m.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for a region of Union County shortly after 5:45 p.m. and lasted until 6:30 p.m.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for parts of Warren County and Hunterdon County at 5:30 p.m. and lasted until 6:15 p.m.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for parts of Somerset County and Morris County at 5:15 p.m., and it was in force until 6 p.m.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued at approximately 4:40 p.m. for the southwestern part of Warren County, the northwest part of Hunterdon County, and Lehigh County in eastern Pennsylvania. The warning was in effect until 5:30 p.m.
A severe thunderstorm warning, which was in place until 4:45 p.m., was issued for the center area of Sussex County and northeastern portions of Morris County shortly after 4 p.m.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued at approximately 3:55 p.m. for the majority of Bergen and Passaic counties, the northern half of Essex County, and portions of Rockland and Westchester counties in southeastern New York. The warning was in effect until 5 p.m.
Severe thunderstorm watch
At 1:30 p.m., a severe thunderstorm watch—which is not as serious as a warning—was issued. It was supposed to last until 10 p.m., but on Thursday, it ended at 7:30 p.m. Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren counties were all under the watch.
Along with portions of eastern Pennsylvania, such as Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe, and Northampton counties, the watch also includes New York City.
Forecasters say some of the storm cells that form this afternoon or this evening have the potential to pack a big punch with heavy downpours, small hail, and damaging wind gusts as strong as 65 to 70 mph, even though today’s thunderstorms aren’t anticipated to be as widespread as the storms that hit the Garden State earlier this week.
Current weather radar
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Len Melisurgo
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