NJ Weather – Hard to Predict Based on Moving Front

Alex F

Well-Known Member
Nov 14, 2006
9,166
Miami / Ft Lauderdale
Boat Info
2005 420DB with AB 11 DLX Tender, Raymarine Electronics (2x12" MFDs) with Vesper AIS
Engines
Cummins 450Cs, 9KW Onan Generator, 40HP Yamaha for tender.
We had very interesting experience today. After listening for local forecast in our region (T-storms watch with chance of 60%) the front was moving east to Long Isl. Area. After fueling up, we’ve decided to be close to marina and went to Silver Bay. A short while later a passing scattered T-storm rolled in. By watching the sky, it was almost passing to the north side, but a small part of it produced a quick t-storm, which was over in 15-20 min. A few moments later the sun came out and was pretty good considering the forecast. Then, around 3:30pm-4pm I saw a huge front developing, but based on my observation it was moving north-east. Just south of it the sky looked fine and even partly sunny. Few boats took off and I was trying to determine if the direction of the storm doesn’t change. As me and my wife were debating should we stay or should we go back to the marina, the storm started making it’s turn more to the east than north and it was more passing right above us vs. passing by as it looked originally. We felt more comfortable and started packing and making our way to marina. This thing decided to follow us at much greater speed and had painted pretty scary picture in the sky. I couldn’t resist not taking picture of this thing (sorry fir the pics quality, we were moving fast), it reminded me a movie “Independence Day”, when W. Smith went to get a paper and shouted “honey, the neighbors are moving” and then looked at the ski.

Skies as we were leaving Silver Bay:
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This thing is following us to marina:
100_3619.jpg


We were about 3 miles from our slip. As I was approaching the channel to our marina, I saw that the wind was coming from the West. I new it would be nasty to get in slip, but west winds would be in our favor backing in to the slip. As we got closer to the dock the front was directly over us ready to burst and the winds had really picked up. Then, a “nice“ surprise. The wind took 90degree turn and became very strong north wind (very unusual for our area, where 90% of the time it’s a south wind). Gusting at about over 25MPH with my full camper canvas, my 320DA felt like a sailboat. The first attempt didn’t turn out as good as I would hope, I almost hit my neighbor’s boat due to strong wind pushing my stern making miss the piling on the starboard side. It took me 3 attempts to finally get it in safely. The strangest thing happened just moments after I secured the lines, the wind had changed direct by taking 180degree turn and this thing finally had burst producing heavy rain and lots of lightning and thunder. It went on for couple of hours. We were really glad we had decided not to wait any longer and made our way to marina. It would have been a long sitting through period.

Alex.
 
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Hi Alex

You can use your boat's radar to track these storms and see how big they are.

  • Power up the radar
  • Set the range to a larger area 12+ miles
  • Turn off sea state
  • Turn off the rain declutter
  • Turn off Fast Time Constant (FTC)
You'll actually see the rain on the screen as a large black mass. I saw the storm coming in and my wife and I decided to go home instead of waiting it out. There was a lot of black on the 24 nm range.

Best regards,
Frank
 
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We're here at Farley's Marina in Atlantic City for the weekend. I had to replug in that 44DA's electric that Gary unplugged last week. Anyway, when those storms rolled through Yesterday afternoon, this Marina became a haven for wayward boaters coming in from the Atlantic. Being that it is an easy in/out marina, those mariners close enough, and lucky enough, to be within earshot where all high tailing it into the basin to ride out the storms. the lightning show was quite interesting. A few boats were trying to dock during the peak of the winds. Myself and two buddies helped pull in their lines. Most of the admirals had that 'look'. I'm guessing at least two of those captains will be getting out of boating soon.

On a sad note, I heard on this morning's news that one person was struck by lightning and killed in Sandy Hook. A few others along the Jersey shore, from Cape May all the way up, were struck, but are expected to survive.
 
We travelled from Block Island to Mystic yesterday and I checked the weather at 10:00 am and the weather service said in a statement "The rest of the morning and early afternoon should be rain free." Literally 20 minutes later as I left Block, a marine warning was raised... These guys are more stupid here than down in Virginia... We raced across to Fishers Island and got into Noank and the sky opened up with lightning about 10 minutes later. Nothing like racing into a big red blob on the radar....

Anyway.. impressive pictures... That first one is a keeper.

Here's the article from today's NY Times:

Twelve in Region Are Struck by Lightning, One Fatally

Published: July 28, 2008

Severe thunderstorms tore through the region over the weekend, and at least 12 people in New York and New Jersey were struck by lightning, one of them fatally, the authorities said.

In New Jersey, a 38-year-old man from Elizabeth was struck and killed on Sunday afternoon as he lay on a beach in Sandy Hook with five friends. The authorities were withholding the release of the victim’s name until his family could be notified. He was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Two others in the group were also struck, said Brian Feeney, a spokesman for the National Park Service. Mr. Feeney said those people were also taken to the hospital and admitted for treatment and observation.
“This is the first time in anybody’s memory that this has occurred,” Mr. Feeney said, referring to a lightning strike death on the beaches at Sandy Hook. “I’ve been here for 17 years, and it has never occurred on my watch.”

A fast-moving storm system, fueled by a warm, humid air mass and pressure from a system hovering over Canada, caused a wide swath of violent activity from Maine to Maryland, the National Weather Service said.

Five men in their 20s who took refuge under a tree in Cantiague Park in Hicksville, on Long Island, during a thunderstorm on Sunday were injured after lightning struck the tree, the authorities said. The men had gone to the park to play soccer. They were taken to Nassau University Medical Center.

A police spokeswoman said that two of the victims suffered electrical burns while the others had minor injuries. All five were listed in stable condition, she said.

Four other lightning victims in New Jersey were hospitalized with injuries: Cape Regional Medical Center in Cape May admitted four people on Sunday who had been struck in three separate strikes, said Tom Piratzky, a spokesman for the hospital. The incidents, he said, occurred within an hour of one another.

Mr. Piratzky said two people were struck on Colton Court Beach in Cape May. Another person was struck in a Cape May-area parking lot, and a fourth was struck at Morey’s Piers, an amusement park in Wildwood. All four were in stable condition, Mr. Piratzky said.

Property was not spared during the violent weather. Two homes in Seneca Falls, N.Y., suffered major fire damage when lightning struck a nearby utility pole and set off sparks and flames, the police said. A resident and several firefighters suffered minor injuries.

Jim Connolly, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said there was nothing unusual about the weekend’s brutal weather.
“It was just a stormy day,” Mr. Connolly said.
 
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I decided to wait it out at Treasure Island in the Manasquan. The only reason we stayed is because I wanted to go see if that boat in the picture left any thing good cooking on his grill when they high tailed it out of there and left it behind. No such luck though.
 

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Hey Dom,

Have they re-positioned the markers in the Little Egg Inlet yet? I heard from one of the dock hands at Morrisons that it was done a week or so ago.
 
Lightning is my only concern with these t-storms. After reading Gary's post with news paper reports I'm glad we had decided to seek shelter. Having such a large mass heading over I knew it'll carry lots of lightning. I don't want to be in the news.
 
Hi Alex

You can use your boat's radar to track these storms and see how big they are.
  • Power up the radar
  • Set the range to a larger area 12+ miles
  • Turn off sea state
  • Turn off the rain declutter
  • Turn off Fast Pulse Rate (I forgot the name! Something like that. It'll come to me in a bit, I guess.)
You'll actually see the rain on the screen as a large black mass. I saw the storm coming in and my wife and I decided to go home instead of waiting it out. There was a lot of black on the 24 nm range.

Best regards,
Frank

Frank,
Thanks for excellent tip. I'll try to play with my radar next time there's front near by (I'm sure it'll be not too long from now).

Alex.
 
Alex,

That is a wicked picture of Silver Bay. I was actually at home on Sunday (Trenton area) and was watching the front on the NOAA site. At about 2:00 it was amost pitch black at the house as it passed over. It was our first weekend since I splashed in April that we could not get down to the boat due to a family event. Your pictures make me feel better about sitting in my family room on Sunday!

Jon
 
just as disconcerting was driving (a car) thru that crap on sunday. heading back from rehobeth beach, DE, i started watching this thing brew over my left shoulder as i crossed the C&D canal on the funky gold bridge. my hope is that i would drive out of it but it caught up with us on I-295 maybe 20 miles north of the Del. Mem Br,. we drove through driving rain, vicious winds, alarming thunder and really really CLOSE lightening. try hitting a 6" deep flash flood puddle (that you couldnt see b/c the rain was coming down so hard) at 50mph. this went on for 20 minutes. i was actually thinking i'd rather be on a boat waiting this thing out. there were the usual assortment of cars parked under overpasses but i was leary of this, esp b/c other motorists may lose sight of the lane, stray out of the right lane and wind up in my cargo area! probably should've gotten off the interstate but i just wanted to get home.

i think jon was in the best place to be on sunday!
 
I corrected my earlier post. Half-way to the office I remembered "Fast Time Constant". It's always the way.

Lots of rain, but I didn't think it was that bad while driving home. But we kept getting stuck in pockets of 35 mph drivers who, for some reason, had to plod along in the left lane. Truck did fine, of course. Even with the trailered Sea Doo on its tail.

Let this be a lesson to all. Don't sit on the beach and say to your buddies, "I'm staying here. It'll blow over or may God stroke me dead."

Best regards,
Frank C
 
Yeah, I caught one piece of the storm driving down the garden state parkway. Kinda eerie to be driving 40mph and PASSING people.

We were *contemplating* our boating plans for the afternoon when that big, ugly, mass of clouds started moving over Silver Bay. With the boat secure, and a dry living room 10 paces away, it was simply AWESOME to watch this storm come overhead.

That would not have been a good storm to be caught out in.
 
Despite this crazy storm that lasted for couple of hours I still think it was very nice day on water. The most part of the day was fine, partly sunny. I was able to have couple of rides on the boat. I had a nice swim while we stayed on the anchor. We sat through one quick passing t-storm and then sun came out. Then, I brainstormed how to improve my flushing system. Had some wine with my wife. Then, you know what took place. But, lets not forget that these are the days we sometimes learn the most of seamanship. So, I did learn few things. One was more of a reminder of making a good judgment call. The second, was docking my boat in the slip in the strong wind from totally opposite direction I usually do it and am comfortable with. I did learn that in this situation (when very strong wind is amid ship) there’s no other way but putting the stern in to the wind and as I line up to the slip make the quick turn hugging the piling to secure the boat’s position. The rest is easy. Admiral was also great and handled all as a trooper, which always a big plus. By posting to CSR I got a great tip from Frank :thumbsup: on how to use my radar to track the storms. If this works as I think (being able to observe the moving front with approximate speed and direction), it’s a huge discovery.

What also helps me is that I always try to look at things from optimistic point of view. Even at work, I even tell my boss that when things break it not a big deal, b/c this is when we learn the most and it’ll be fixed one way or the other.

No questions asked, all of us will be caught in storms probably in more than one occasion and having experience on how to handle the situation as well as your boat is critical knowledge. We boat in sheltered water, so it’s one of the best places to gain the knowledge and be safe.

So, in the end, I think John was in the safest place on Sunday, but not the best.

Cheers,
Alex.
 
agreed

were you swimming in Silver Bay? How about the jellies?
 
You know John, not too bad. I stayed a bit away from the shore this helped with the greenheads a lot, and not too much jellies, although they were spotted.
 
ya gotta love alex's outlook! BRAVO :thumbsup::smt038
 

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