EF2 tornado in Monmouth County, New Jersey

A tornado formed along an eastward moving rotating supercell within a line of thunderstorms and made an initial touchdown on the north side of Palomino Drive. A 100 yard wide path of dozens of large hardwood and softwood trees were snapped or uprooted in a convergent east to northeast pattern between the north side of

Palomino Drive and the high tension powerlines paralleling to the north. In addition to the extensive tree damage, numerous fences were demolished with moderate roof and shingle damage to houses on the north side of Palomino Drive. The path of tree damage continued east southeast, across N New Prospect Rd, and along the north and northeast periphery of the newly built Paragon apartment complex. The degree of tree and home damage is consistent with winds of 100-120 mph.

The tornado continued east southeast down to the intersection of Larsen Road and Maplewood Place. Several large hard and soft wood trees were snapped or uprooted in a convergent pattern, and power poles downed, on either side of Larsen at this intersection. The tornado tracked east southeast across the residences along the

east side of Maplewood and the northeast section of Dogwood Rd, with about a 150 yd width path of dozens of large trees snapped or uprooted in a convergent pattern, power poles downed or snapped, fences demolished, and sheds flipped or moved. Despite the

significant tree damage, generally only minor siding and roof shingle damage was noted. This damage was consistent with EF1 winds of 90 to 110 mph. The tornado likely moved southeast from here across a shallow NE to SW cleared valley area along the Monmouth/Ocean county border with transmission lines running through. No damage was noted to the transmission lines or the metal truss towers.

The tornado then likely strengthened to its greatest intensity as it continued east southeast from the clearing to the residences on the southwest corner of Spicy Pond Rd. Numerous large trees snapped or uprooted in a 300 yd long and 150 yd wide

convergent pattern, fences demolished, and several houses having minor to moderate siding, gutter, awning, deck and roof shingle damage. The worst damage occurred to a house facing to the southwest on the southwest corner of Spicy Pond Road, whose whole roof was lifted and tossed into their backyard and immediate neighbor backyards. Some of the debris, including a larger roof rafter was lofted about 125 yards, impaling the roof and second floor of a house on the east side of Addison Road. In addition, some siding from the house was impaled into the siding of the neighboring house to the north, with insulation and siding debris littering the neighborhood for about 200 yds to to the east southeast. Based on the degree of damage and construction this was determined to be EF2 wind damage of 110-120 mph. The tornado

likely quickly occluded after passing Addison Rd, ending its short path.

A strong cold front approached the region, with a line of strong showers and thunderstorms developing out ahead of the front. Storms produced damaging winds, multiple tornadoes, and small to medium-sized hail in New Jersey.