Tornadoes Damage NJ Sports Dome, Homes, Businesses During Storms

NEW JERSEY — Communities around the Garden State are still cleaning up after an early-April storm caused tornadoes to touch down and high winds to cause problems Saturday night.

Winds exceeding 100 miles per hour tore through multiple New Jersey communities on Saturday, causing four confirmed tornadoes according to the National Weather Service.

Three of the tornadoes had peak winds of 130 miles per hour, measuring an EF-2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale (which meteorologists use to classify tornadoes). The scale goes from EF-0 (winds below 85 mph) up to EF-5 (winds over 200 mph).

NWS survey teams are still assessing damage at sites in Crosswicks (Burlington) into Cream Ridge (Monmouth), and Mays Landing (Atlantic) as of Monday afternoon. No injuries or deaths have been reported in NJ; one person died in Delaware, where an EF-3 tornado killed a Sussex County man in his home.

Patch storm coverage:

• Tornado Destroys Building At Sea Girt National Guard Training Site
  
• High Winds A Factor In Jet Runway Accident At Wall Airport: Police
  
• 100-MPH Tornado Hits Cinnaminson (Pics)
  
• Tornado Cleanup Continues in Jackson, Power Outages Remain
  
• Howell Tornado Hit Aldrich, Ramtown Areas At 135 MPH: Officials
  

A tornado in Sea Girt heavily damaged a New Jersey National Guard Training Center warehouse for a residential youth program called Youth ChalleNGe Academy. Wind damage in this area is consistent with a speed of 110-120 miles per hour and an EF-2 storm, said the National Weather Service.

High winds tore off the roof and toppled the chimney of the academy's supply and storage building, which did not contain classrooms or billeting, officials said. No cadets living at the center were hurt, officials said.

Another tornado damaged facilities at Adventure Crossing near Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson. Photos shared by the Ocean County Sheriff's Office showed the recreation facility's bubble has been damaged, and the company said the Adventure Golf and Entertainment center is closed until further notice.

The tornado in Jackson appeared to have carried winds of 130 mph, making it an EF-2 tornado, according to a storm survey from the NWS.

Officials in Howell (Monmouth County) said winds there reached 135 miles per hour (EF-2 range), and tore the roof off a home on Spicy Pond Road before whipping solar panels from their place atop a school.

The tornado in Burlington County traveled six miles, according to the official storm survey, and reached 634 yards wide at maximum (1,902 feet, or about one-third of a mile), with peak winds of 95-100 miles per hour. This storm was categorized as an EF-1 by the National Weather Service.

As of Monday morning, the NWS listed four tornadoes which touched down in southern New Jersey: one in Burlington County (Cinnaminson/Moorestown) and three near the shore: one in Jackson, one in Howell, and one in Sea Girt.

Tornadoes were also confirmed in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and Bridgeville, Delaware, where one person died, the NWS said.

Another storm in Burlington County, which blew through Palmyra and Riverton, was determined to be straight-line winds and not a tornado. The storm in Palmyra and Riverton had max winds of 100 miles per hour according to weather officials.

Data from the office of the state climatologist shows the year NJ had the most tornadoes was in 1989, when the state measured 19 tornadoes over the course of the year. Data shows that seven of these tornadoes happened on the same day: November 15, 1989.

Since then, the highest annual count was in 2021, when there were 13 tornadoes statewide. This data is published by Rutgers' NJ Agriculture Experiment Station.