Strong Wind in Western Monmouth, New Jersey

A vigorous cold front moved through New Jersey during the early morning on the 27th and was accompanied by strong gusty winds. The strongest gusts occurred during two surges, one within a couple of hours of the cold frontal passage. The second (and in most areas just as strong) surge occurred during the late morning on the 27th. At about 1120 a.m. EST, a 31-year-old woman was killed when she was struck in the head by a falling tree limb and knocked off her horse during a fox hunt on the Ellisdale Road property of Princeton Nurseries in Upper Freehold Township in Monmouth County. The strong winds pulled down tree limbs and this resulted in power outages to about 20,000 homes throughout the northern half of New Jersey. Some of the hardest hit areas included Newton (Sussex County) and Flemington (Hunterdon County). Peak wind gusts included 55 mph in Harvey Cedars (Ocean County) and at the McGuire AFB (Burlington County) and 53 mph in Belmar (Monmouth County) and Chatham (Morris County). While it was also windy in the southern third of New Jersey, the highest wind gusts were a bit lower, generally between 35 mph and 45 mph.