An EF 1 tornado struck the Blackwood area of Gloucester Township in New Jersey, on the early morning of Thursday, June 9, according to latest reports.
National Weather Service (NWS) officials confirmed the tornado touched down at 5:00 a.m. EDT, local time.
An NWS survey team were deployed in the area to assess the damage it caused.
Initial investigation concluded there were no casualties reported during the windstorm.
In addition, the tornado did not cause any infrastructural damage but with only downed trees, wherein one home was hit.
The twister came during a series of severe storms in New Jersey.
The severe weather was forecasted earlier by the NWS and its Weather Prediction Center (WPC) and Storm Prediction Center (SPC).
However, there were no tornado warnings issued, as the US weather agencies only provided severe thunderstorm and flood warnings.
The recent New Jersey tornado falls under the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale.
Amid the summer season and the Atlantic hurricane season, this year's severe thunderstorms have continued in several parts of the United States since March.
New Jersey EF1 Tornado
According to a Twitter post of the NWS Mount Holly on Thursday afternoon, the NWS survey team confirmed the tornado with peak winds of up to 90 miles per hour hit the area in New Jersey's Camden County.
One user tweeted about the post, claiming the tornado alley has shifted in to the east already.
Other Twitter users shared their own experiences and shared coverages of the severe storms in some parts of the US, including in Atlanta, Georgia.
The local New Jersey Police reported strong winds have damaged around five houses in the area, as cited by Fox 5 New York.
The NWS is expected to release more details of the incident in the coming hours or days.
Also Read: New York, New Jersey Hit by Intense Storms, Briefly Triggering Tornado Warnings
East Coast Storm Alert
Prior to the Blackwood tornado, the NWS on Wednesday, June 8, issued a storm alert for the US East Coast that a severe storm system will affect multiples areas, which included New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Alabama, Maryland, West Virginia, and Washington, DC.
While there was no twister warning for New Jersey, the short-range forecast revealed that the storm system will cover a vast area of the region until the weekend, causing not only potential tornadoes but also hail and heavy rain with flooding.
New Jersey Tornado Threat
In May, New Jersey received a tornado watch for several of its counties, including Camden County where Blackwood is situated.
During this time, forecasters were increasingly concerned about the threat posed by severe thunderstorms, particularly in the western half of New Jersey, indicating they can occur anytime between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., as cited by local news site NJ.com.
In 2021, approximately 13 tornadoes were recorded across New Jersey, incurring over $5 million worth of property damage.
The Garden State has experienced approximately at least 180 tornadoes since recordings began in the 1950s.
In previous decades, tornadoes rarely occur in the Eastern Seaboard since most of them form over the Central US and Southern US.
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