250K Without Power As Severe Storms Rip Through NJ Friday

The dangerous heat is not the only weather trauma being inflected upon the Garden State, as hundreds of thousands of residents are without power as severe weather lashed the region Friday night.

Nearly 250,000 were in the dark and without air conditioning at one point as downed trees and snapped wires after the weather system moved through.

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The chaos brought on by the storm saw a spike in emergency service calls.

“ Emergency responders are managing significant storm impacts with an extremely high volume of 911 calls,” the Morris County Office of emergency management said. “We are aware of reports of downed trees, power lines, and damage throughout Morris County.”

As of 10:15 op.m., 185, 540 JCP&L customers were out, 48, 281 PSE&G customers were in the dark, and Atlantic City Electric had 2,430 powerless.

The timing of the outages, and damage to the infrastructure, comes at a tricky time as an Extreme Heat Warning remains in place for much of New Jersey through 8 p.m. Saturday, with the state's barrier islands under a Heat Advisory also through 8 p.m. Saturday.

"This is not the kind of heat event we see every year, and could be the hottest period of weather the area has experienced in over a decade," the National Weather Service said.

Temperatures Thursday were already near record and even broke records in some areas. The Atlantic City Airport reached 103 degrees, beating its previous record of 100 degrees, which was recorded in 1966.

Heat index values (how hot it feels) are expected to be between 100 degrees and 110 degrees through Saturday, possibly reaching 115 degrees locally. This includes areas that are typically cooler, like along the coast and in mountainous areas.

Little to no relief is expected overnight as well, as low temperatures will only drop into the mid-70s to low-80s, forecasters said.

There will be a slight risk of severe thunderstorms Saturday, National Weather Service forecasters said, meaning isolated to scattered severe storms are possible.

The extreme heat and humidity could make stronger storms produce damaging winds, forecasters said.

"While there is still some uncertainty in the details of the thunderstorm activity Friday and into the weekend, it is important to point out that any holiday weekend festivities could be impacted by thunderstorms (in addition to the extreme heat)," National Weather Service forecasters said.

The good news is that temperatures will begin to drop by Sunday, with highs in the upper-80s, though heat index values could make it feel as though it is in the upper-90s for South Jersey in particular.