Just a day after confirming other damage throughout the Garden State was caused by straight-line winds and not tornadoes, the Mount Holly, New Jersey office of the National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado touched down at Normandy Beach in Ocean County, New Jersey. This is New Jersey’s first confirmed April tornado since one on April 3, 1975.
According to a statement released by the National Weather Service a short time ago, a waterspout formed over Barnegat Bay between Silver Bay and Kettle Creek on Tuesday at 3:05pm.. It moved ashore at the Normandy Beach Yacht Club. Several boats and associated trailers were tossed and flipped, with minor damage reported to at least one home on South Court. According to the National Weather Service, this tornado may have lifted as it proceeded east across Route 35 and approached the coast just north of Normandy Shores Beach Club. There, the tornado emerged over coastal waters, becoming a waterspout once again, causing little to no additional damage.
Based on their analysis, the National Weather Service has rated this tornado an EF-0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. It classifies tornadoes based on their wind speeds. EF-0 tornadoes have wind speeds 65 to 85 mph; 1 has winds 86 to 110mph; 2 has winds 111-135mph; 3 has winds 136-165mph; 4 has winds 166-200mph; 5 has winds in excess of 200mph.
The tornado that hit New Jersey on Tuesday had a maximum width of 20 yards and a path length of 0.4 miles; it has estimated peak winds of 70 mph.
