The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for parts of Atlantic County on Thursday as strong storms swept across New Jersey and triggered flash flood warnings in New Jersey and parts of New York City. The warning was set to expire at 5:15 p.m., and there were no immediate reports of a funnel cloud on the ground.
Atlantic County at 4:40 p.m.
The warning came two minutes after a flash flood warning was posted at 4:40 p.m. for parts of South Jersey. That flood warning covered southwestern sections of Atlantic County, northwestern sections of Cape May County and the southeastern region of Cumberland County, where the weather service said 1 to 3 inches of rain had already fallen. It was scheduled to continue through 8:45 p.m. Thursday.
Atlantic County at 5:25 p.m.
A new flash flood warning was issued at 5:25 p.m. for the southeastern region of Atlantic County and was effective until 9:30 p.m. The weather service said 1 to 2 inches of rain had fallen there, with another 1 to 3 inches possible in the warned area. That placed the county under two separate warning windows in the same evening, one tied to the earlier South Jersey flood threat and another focused on the southeastern section.
New Jersey Thursday Watches
By about 5:40 p.m., the warning area expanded north to parts of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Union counties, along with parts of New York City, where a flash flood warning was issued until 7:45 p.m. Severe thunderstorm warnings were also issued for Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties, while seven counties in South Jersey were under a tornado watch and seven counties in northern and central New Jersey were under a severe thunderstorm watch through 10 p.m. Thursday.
The Weather Prediction Center said most of New Jersey faced a slight risk of excessive rainfall, with a wide swath of northern and central New Jersey under a moderate risk. For readers in the warned areas, the practical step was to stay alert through the evening because the weather service had already stacked tornado, flood and severe thunderstorm alerts across separate parts of the state.
