Severe Wx Outbreak for U.S. One of the Biggest Ever

On this blog, I discussed the potential for a major severe weather outbreak, particularly south and west of here for several days. Now that the dust has settled, more than 1,200 preliminary reports of severe weather, according to the Storm Prediction Center, occurred. This is one of the highest numbers ever recorded for a single day. There were 32 reports of tornadoes, 1312 reports of wind damage, and 89 reports of large hail. Today, there were 50 reports of wind damage and there was 1 report of large hail.

An unsettled pattern is expected for our region. A cold front will swing through the region tomorrow night. The front is expected to stall to our south and allow numerous disturbances to ride along it. The result will be periods of showers. On Friday, a more organized area of rain and possibly a few rumbles of thunder may occur. Then a warm front lifts northward Saturday Evening into early on Sunday Morning. This will allow for showers and thunderstorms during that period. Then Sunday will be mostly sunny and a very similar day to Wednesday of this week with increasing sunshine and very warm readings. At this point, with the distance we have, I won’t go with lower eighties…but Sunday could very well end up being that warm.

Sometime during the time frame of Monday, a strong cold front is yet again forecast to move into the region. The timing will make all the difference. However, somewhere along the eastern regions of the United States is expected to see another outbreak of severe weather. It is day six in the forecast period and therefore more details will be forthcoming tomorrow.

Today's wind gusts:

NEW JERSEY

...ATLANTIC COUNTY...
ATLANTIC CITY AIRPOR 40 1159 AM 4/05

...BURLINGTON COUNTY...
RED LION 44 1030 AM 4/05

...CAPE MAY COUNTY...
CAPE MAY 56 1155 AM 4/05
OCEAN CITY 52 715 AM 4/05

...CUMBERLAND COUNTY...
BIVALVE 48 1030 AM 4/05
MILLVILLE AIRPORT 43 1133 AM 4/05

...MERCER COUNTY...
TRENTON AIRPORT 41 1046 AM 4/05

...OCEAN COUNTY...
TUCKERTON 51 735 AM 4/05
HARVEY CEDARS 41 1100 AM 4/05

...SOMERSET COUNTY...
HILLSBOROUGH 40 1030 AM 4/05
SOMERVILLE AIRPORT 39 1032 AM 4/05

...SUSSEX COUNTY...
HIGH POINT 49 1030 AM 4/05

Not sure whether winds played a role in the nearly 10,000 customers who lost power in the Howell and Jackson areas today or not....