EF1 Tornado — Cape May, New Jersey

2021-07-09 · near Woodbine Jct, Cape May, New Jersey

Event narrative

An EF-1 tornado touched down near the entrance of the Ocean World

Condominium complex in Woodbine where it uprooted two cedar trees.

The tornado completely destroyed a picnic shelter at the complex's

park area and spread debris consisting of structural remains and

patio furniture hundreds of feet. The roof of the picnic shelter was

dropped into the nearby swimming pool. The tornado caused considerable

structural damage to the complex's office and recreation building.

The front door was blown out and ripped off of the structure and an

exterior wall was pushed outward several inches, but did not

completely collapse. The complex's entrance sign was also blown over

and another nearby cedar tree was uprooted. The tornado continued

westward where it snapped a few trees along Ash Drive and

Freidriechstadt Avenue. The tornado continued through a wooded area

then uprooted a few trees near the intersection of Dehirsch Avenue

and Joffe Drive. At the same intersection, several tree limbs were

snapped off and sections of residential vinyl fencing was blown

over. The tornado continued across an open area then ended near the

intersection of Heilprin Avenue and Ocean Drive where it snapped

part of a pine tree off onto a house.

Wider weather episode

Tropical Storm Elsa affected much of the coastal mid-Atlantic on the night of July 8 and into the morning of the 9th. The storm maintained much of its intensity despite a long track over land as it began to interact with a mid-latitude trough. Overall, impacts across the mid-Atlantic were fairly minimal. One to three inches of rain, locally a little higher, fell across a large area, but produced little in the way of flooding impacts. With the center tracking near the coast, tropical storm force wind conditions were limited, and confined mainly to immediate coastal areas. Elsa did produce a couple of short-lived tornadoes over eastern New Jersey. The storm was fast moving, and departed into New England a few hours after daybreak on the 9th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.2358, -74.7927)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 959414. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.