NJ Storms Generated Small Tsunami Off Jersey Shore, NWS Says

The harsh storms that rolled through New Jersey on Tuesday generated a small tsunami off the Jersey Shore.

The National Weather Service said a “meteotsunami" was recorded after 8 p.m. off Monmouth County and Point Pleasant, and around 8:40 p.m. at a buoy off Atlantic City.

A meteotsunami is a type of tsunami that is caused by above-water events, such as a storm. Other tsunamis are caused by below-water events, such as earthquakes, according to Trent Davis, meteorlogist for the National Weather Service.

Davis said the tsunami did not cause any harmful impacts because the tide was receding – unlike a similar incident in 2013 in Barnegat Light, when a father and son were injured by the ensuing flood waters.

Nearly 50,000 people were still without power, and a number of roads were closed Wednesday after a wild pack of lightning and thunderstorms roared through New Jersey. Read more here...

The recording off Monmouth County was actually higher, and worse, than the one off Atlantic City on Tuesday. But neither produced any harmful effects, he said.

"It was noting to really be concerned about," Davis said about the Tuesday incident.

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The last tsunami record off the New Jersey coast was on June 21, 2016.

Davis said a pressure increase caused by the storms caused the ocean water to react, producing a tsunami.

NWS graphic of Atlantic City water height during tsunami