Confirmed Tornado Touches Down In Mercer County: NWS

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP, NJ — A confirmed EF-0 landspout tornado touched down in Mercer County on Friday evening, the National Weather Service confirmed.

In a report released Saturday, the NWS said the confirmed twister formed around 6 p.m. in Lawrence Township. Forecasters said it began near Johnson Road and Brunswick Avenue intersection, where it uprooted and damaged multiple trees.

Forecasters said the tornado then moved northeast into a small wooded area before hitting a post office parking lot and causing a half-dozen vehicles to flip. The landspout dissipated shortly after, forecasters said.

The NWS report said the twister packed 80 mph winds and left a path that was 0.13 miles long.

Forecasters classified the twister as a landspout, a typically smaller and weaker tornado with a narrow, rope-like condensation funnel that forms without a supercell or rotating updraft, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

Waterspouts are similar to landspouts, except they occur over water. The strength of these types of tornadoes tends to be EF-2 or less.

Friday's tornado spawned as severe thunderstorms lashed New Jersey with heavy rains and strong winds. More than 40,000 homes and businesses lost power as storms moved across the state, according to a NJ Advance Media report.