No, That Wasn't A Tornado That Flipped Cars in New Jersey

No, that wasn’t a tornado that flipped cars, snapped poles and wreaked havoc in New Jersey on Tuesday.

The National Weather Service says a downburst, a collection of hurricane-force winds that is often confused with a tornado, slammed a section of Gloucester County on Tuesday in the middle of a damaging, severe thunderstorm.

A downburst can pack the punch of a tornado but without the hard-driving, spiraling winds.

The NWS released a report Wednesday after doing a survey of the damage at the scene that said the downburst - specifically, a “macroburst” - pounded the region with 85-mph winds.

The report said “straight-line” - not spiraling - winds snapped poles, downed power lines and toppled trees and debris in East Greenwich Township, making many roads impassable.

The most significant damage occurred along East Cohawkin Road, near Pine Mill Road and along Kings Highway. Private residences also suffered minor shingle damage, and there was a report of a blown-over shed in the Clarksboro section.

Valerie Meola, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, said the agency - acting on a county government request - did a survey of the Gloucester County area Wednesday to help determine whether a tornado did hit the area.

Meola said the National Weather Service did not receive a request to investigate whether another possible tornado hit the Long Beach Island area - although she did see the video provided by an eyewitness showing a quick, destructive weather pattern hitting the Harvey Cedars shoreline.

>>Related:

• WATCH: Possible Tornado Footage From Long Beach Island
• Tornado Rips Through South Jersey Tuesday Evening: Eyewitnesses

The severe thunderstorm packed strong winds in much of New Jersey on Tuesday, causing tens of thousands of people to lose power.

In Burlington County, more than 90,000 were without power, while more than 80,000 in Camden County, 68,000 in Gloucester County, 54,000 in Cape May County, 20,000 in Atlantic, 5,000 in Ocean County and 1,000 in Morris also dealt with outages.

A tornado warning was also in effect, but the National Weather Service has, so far, said that no tornadoes were produced by the storm.

Downbursts are typically produced by a downdraft over a horizontal area up to 6 miles, according to the National Weather Service. if the diameter of the downdraft is greater than 4 kilometers, the downburst is called a “macroburst.” If it’s less than 4 kilometers, it’s a “microburst.”

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(Photo: Twitter user @King_Juice_13)