Tornado Watch Issued For 16 NJ Counties

Sixteen counties are under a tornado watch as severe thunderstorms with heavy winds and flooding are expected to slam the Garden State Monday, according to the latest forecast.

The watch is set to expire at 7 p.m. with "a few" tornadoes likely, along with quarter-sized hail and wind gusts up to 80 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Included in the watch are Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Salem, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties.

National Weather Service forecasters are urging everyone to stay "weather aware" throughout Monday.

Storms could start as early as 2 p.m., but things will peak from 5 p.m. through 11 p.m. heading west to east, according to the National Weather Service.

Severe thunderstorms are likely, with some potentially "significant," National Weather Service forecasters said.

Wind gusts of 35 mph to 50 mph are possible, even outside of the thunderstorms.

"The primary threat remains wind, however the threat for tornadoes is increasing," National Weather Service forecasters said.



Heavy rainfall could result in flash flooding. Some coastal flooding is also possible.

"The rainfall in this zone can easily reach 1-2 inches per hour," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said. "If it were not for the brevity of the storm, there would be widespread major flooding. However, even a brief period of intense rain such as this will lead to urban flooding problems along the Interstate 95 corridor and especially in the zone from New York City to Providence, Rhode Island and Boston."

Up to 1.5 inches of rain is possible.

Cold and windy weather continues Tuesday.

After that, temperatures will return to seasonable conditions Thursday and Friday.