New Jersey Tornado Confirmed

The tornado touched down across the street from the Columbus Market in Burlington County and traveled north and east in parallel to the Ft. Dix - McGuire Joint Base. Image: Google — The tornado touched down across the street from the Columbus Market in Burlington County and traveled north and east in parallel to the Ft. Dix – McGuire Joint Base. Image: Google

During Saturday’s bout of severe weather across the Garden State, flooding rains and severe thunderstorms battered New Jersey; adding to the list of severe observations is a confirmed tornado touch-down in Burlington County.

According to the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey, an EF-1 rated tornado with winds of 80-90 mph winds touched down across from the Columbus Farmers’ Market near Route 206. The tornado, with a width of roughly 800 yards, traveled 7.9 miles across Springfield Township before lifting ahead of the Burlington County / Ocean County county line. According to the National Weather Service, this was the 5th tornado to touch down in their area of responsibility in the region. Beyond Saturday’s, there were 2 in southern Delaware on July 1 and 2 in southern New Jersey on July 9, with one in Cape May County and the other in Ocean County.

Thunderstorms developed and moved across portions of Pennsylvania and New Jersey early Saturday afternoon, continuing into late Saturday night. Late Saturday evening, a line of thunderstorms developed in far southeastern Pennsylvania. A surging segment of this line pushed through Burlington County, creating the tornado there in the northwestern portion of the county.

Saturday's tornado was the fifth in the area this month. Image: NWS — Saturday’s tornado was the fifth in the area this month. Image: NWS

While no deaths nor injuries were reported, there was significant tree damage in the area. “A narrow, discontinuous path of tree damage began just east of the Route 206 and Columbus-Jobstown Road intersection,” wrote the National Weather Service in a storm survey report. The area of the initial touch down is only 1 mile northeast of the Burlington County Fairgrounds. “Significant tree damage was observed in a neighborhood north of Columbus-Jobstown Road. From there, several large limbs were snapped off on Island Road, one tree was uprooted, and one was snapped on Juliustown-Georgetown Road. An additional tree was snapped on NJ Route 68,” the report added. “Numerous large limbs were blown on powerlines on Monmouth Road near Tilghmans Corner. Scattered tree damage was observed in Jacobstown in North Hanover Township.”

The National Weather Service detected a tornado in the area from weather RADAR and promptly issued a Tornado Warning for people in the path of the storm.