New Jersey’s November weather took a turn Thursday, Nov. 12, as thunderstorms produced a confirmed tornado, a waterspout, large hail and heavy rain. From Burlington County to the Jersey Shore, the storm brought hazards more often linked with spring and summer.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
For Monmouth and Ocean counties, the afternoon included hail-covered ground and flooded roads. The event also added a new chapter to New Jersey’s November weather history.
Chesterfield tornado and Salem County waterspout
The National Weather Service confirmed an EF1 tornado in Chesterfield, Burlington County, with estimated peak winds of 100 mph. A waterspout was also reported near Penns Grove in Salem County.
Across the Delaware River, a separate tornado touched down near Wilmington, Delaware. These reports showed how dangerous the region’s storms became during the afternoon.
Record November hail
In the Lakehurst area of Ocean County, hail reached 1.75 inches across, about the size of a golf ball. Cup A Joe Weather’s review of NOAA records found this was New Jersey’s largest November hail on record, surpassing 1.50-inch reports from Burlington and Mercer counties in 1977.
Quarter-sized hail also fell in parts of Monmouth and Ocean counties. Along the Interstate 195 corridor, hail piled up enough to make some spots look snow-covered.
Heavy rain at the Jersey Shore
Heavy rain added another problem, especially in eastern Monmouth and northern Ocean counties. Rainfall reached around 2 to 4 inches in the hardest-hit areas, leaving water across roads. Fallen leaves blocking storm drains made drainage problems worse.
Drivers faced several hazards at once: heavy downpours, poor visibility, hail and standing water.
Why this happened in November
A warm front moving north and a strengthening storm system helped create conditions for rotating thunderstorms. The Storm Prediction Center raised the tornado probability to 5% for part of New Jersey.
November tornadoes are unusual here, but they have happened before. On Nov. 16, 1989, seven tornadoes struck New Jersey in one day. Thursday offered another reminder that severe weather season does not end when summer does.
Know More
Thursday’s storm setup combined instability, lift and wind shear. Instability allows air to rise and fuel thunderstorms. A frontal boundary provides lift, while changes in wind speed and direction with height can help storms organize and rotate.
The northward-moving warm front was especially important. Winds near a warm front can change sharply over short distances, creating a favorable corridor for storm rotation. The strengthening low-pressure system added to the evolving wind field.
The Energy Helicity Index, or EHI, combines CAPE, a measure of instability, with storm-relative helicity, which describes the wind profile’s potential to support a rotating updraft. Higher values can flag environments favorable for supercells. EHI is guidance, however; it does not confirm a tornado or guarantee that one will develop.
The Storm Prediction Center’s 5% tornado outlook also needs context. It represents the probability of a tornado occurring within 25 miles of a point in the outlined area. It does not mean 5% of the state will experience a tornado.
Large hail requires strong updrafts that suspend growing ice particles in the cloud. Supercooled water droplets freeze onto those particles, adding mass until they fall out of the updraft. Lakehurst’s 1.75-inch hail showed that substantial hail growth occurred despite the late-season date.
At ground level, heavy rainfall and leaf-clogged drains created another hazard. Blocked drainage can worsen street flooding even where nearby waterways remain within their banks.
