Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Warren, New Jersey

2007-02-06 · Warren, New Jersey

Wider weather episode

An arctic air mass that originated near the North Pole invaded New Jersey. The combination of the unseasonably cold air and gusty northwest winds produced wind chill factors as low as zero to around 10 degrees below zero during the mornings of the 5th and 6th. The extreme cold caused the death of two people. A 50-year-old male in Camden (Camden County) died in a field on the 6th a he walked home from a relative's house. An 84-year-old woman was found dead next to her car and walker in her driveway in Washington Township (Warren County).

The extrteme cold caused many municipalities to declare Code Blue winter weather alerts. This sets into motion efforts by churches, local charitable organizations and outreach programs to open shelters and help assist getting the homeless indoors. Some Rescue Mission shelters in Mercer County were filled to twice of capacity. Many schools in northwestern New Jersey had delayed openings both mornings. Many pipes froze across the region and many vehicles had dead batteries. The AAA responded to nearly 1,000 service calls, half of them battery related. Firefighters had a particular difficult time battling blazes in these conditions as in some instances water froze in tanker trucks and fire hydrants froze. This was evident as fire fighters battled a particularly stubborn blaze in a condominium development in Sea Bright (Monmouth County). Two firefighters and a 57-year-old womean were injured. The firefighters and trucks were covered in ice. The extreme cold helped the South Jersey Gas Company set an new daily consumption record of 432,594 decatherms. This broke the previous record set in January of 2004.

Actual lowest temperatures included 4 degrees below zero at High Point (Sussex County), zero in Netcong (Morris County), 2 degrees in Chatham (Morris County), 3 degrees in Sussex (Sussex County), 4 degrees in Stewartsville (Warren County), 5 degrees in Flemington (Hunterdon County), 6 degrees in Hightstown (Mercer County), 7 degrees in Boonton (Morris County), Marlboro (Monmouth County) and New Brunswick (Middlesex County), 8 degrees in Trenton (Mercer County), Somerville (Somerset County), Seabrook (Cumberland County), Estell Manor (Atlantic County), Tuckahoe (Cape May County) and Mount Holly (Burlington County), 9 degrees in Somerdale (Camden County), the Atlantic City International Airport and Hammonton (Atlantic County), Woodstown (Salem County) and Swedesboro (Gloucester County), 10 degrees in Point Pleasant (Ocean County), 12 degrees in Wildwood (Cape May County) and 14 degrees in Cape May (Cape May County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 16678. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.