High Wind — Western Union, New Jersey

2012-10-29 · Western Union, New Jersey

Event narrative

A wind gust to 70 mph was measured at Caldwell Airport at 614 pm. In Summit, a 93 year old male died when he fell in his home. His home was without power due to the high winds. In Berkeley Heights, a 79 year old female died after she fell in her home. She was without electricity and heat due to the high winds.

Wider weather episode

Post Tropical Storm Sandy was the costliest natural disaster in Northeast New Jersey.

Tropical Storm Sandy formed in the Caribbean Sea on October 22. After drifting slowly southwest on October 23, Sandy turned to the north and intensified to a hurricane on October 24, just before making landfall in Jamaica. Hurricane Sandy continued to the north and intensified to a strong category two hurricane before making landfall again in Cuba shortly after Midnight EDT on the 25th. Hurricane Sandy emerged on the other side of Cuba during the morning of the 25th and proceeded to drift northwest as a category one or two hurricane as it moved through the Bahamas on the 25th and 26th. Overnight on the 26th, Hurricane Sandy (Category 1) started to move toward the north northeast, a motion that continued into the evening of the 28th. From there, Sandy's motion became driven by two factors. An anomalously strong blocking ridge over the Canadian Maritimes prevented Sandy from escaping to the east. Simultaneously, an approaching and deepening extratropical trough was about to capture Sandy. The combination of the two, turned Sandy to the north overnight on the 28th and then to the northwest on the 29th.

As Sandy continued to move northwest and interact with the mid latitude trough, its interaction continued to make it less tropical, but did not weaken it much. Sandy continued to make a harder turn to the left (west) and made landfall in Atlantic County as a post tropical storm in Brigantine City just north of Atlantic City at 730 p.m. EDT on the 29th. The estimated minimum central pressure was 945 millibars. The lowest recorded central pressure was 945.6 millibars at the Atlantic City Marina at 734 p.m. EDT.

Record breaking high tides and wave action was combined with sustained winds of 40 to 60 mph and wind gusts of 70 to 80 mph.

These extreme conditions resulted in at least 12 deaths across Northeast NJ and widespread property damage. The New Jersey State Governor estimated property damage at 29.4 billion dollars for the State.

Emergency managers recommended mandatory evacuations of people living along the coasts and rivers of mainly Union, Essex, and Hudson Counties. Widespread significant power outages of more than 1 million lasted up to 2 weeks.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 416827. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.