Lightning — Atlantic, New Jersey

2012-06-07 · near Oceanville, Atlantic, New Jersey

Event narrative

A thunderstorm with small hail that started after the outdoor graduation ceremony began at Absegami High School in Galloway Township caused panic as people left the ceremony and made dashes for shelter. About 10 individuals suffered either seizures, panic and/or asthma attacks, two had to be hospitalized. No one was directly struck by lightning. The panic was exacerbated as some onlookers mistook a shelf cloud for either a funnel or wall cloud.

Wider weather episode

A lee side trough present east of the Delaware Valley coupled with a sea breeze front moving through New Jersey and cold air aloft triggered strong to severe thunderstorms across eastern and southern New Jersey from the afternoon to late evening of the 7th. Thunderstorms dropped penny to quarter-size hail, and there were also some reports of smaller hail.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.4808, -74.5162)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 395807. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.