Remnants of Tropical Storm Debby hit New Jersey today with tornado threat and wind gusts of 80 km/h

The dangerous remnants of Tropical Storm Debby could spawn tornadoes in New Jersey on Friday, along with wind gusts of up to 50 mph and severe thunderstorms that could cause flash flooding, according to the latest forecast.

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for 17 counties through 2 p.m. Friday. In about half the state, the chance of tornadoes is 5 to 9 percent, which the weather service says is “quite high for this area.”

Only Bergen, Hudson, Monmouth and Ocean counties are exempt from the tornado warning, but the weather service said in its forecast early Friday that the warning area may need to be expanded and the warning duration extended as Debby moves further north through Pennsylvania.

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“Tornadoes are the greatest danger,” the National Weather Service said. “There will be isolated destructive wind gusts in the morning, with a greater risk in the afternoon and evening.”

While the heaviest of Debby’s rain won’t hit New Jersey, thunderstorms with heavy downpours could still hit already rain-soaked parts of the state, forecasters say. Another 1 to 2 inches of rain is possible for most of the state, with 2 to 4 inches of rain forecast for northwestern counties.

• New Jersey power outage live tracker: Gusty winds from Debby’s remains leave thousands in the dark

The National Weather Service issued a flood warning until 1 a.m. Saturday for 11 counties – Camden, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, Northwest Burlington, Salem, Somerset, Sussex and Warren.

In addition, a wind warning has been issued for almost the entire state until Friday evening.

The weather forecast predicts “a period of strong south or southeast winds on Friday, with wind gusts of 35-50 mph expected throughout the region,” the weather service said. “This could result in downed trees and power outages.”

NJ Advance Media’s power outage tracker showed that 5,000 homes and businesses were already without power as of 8 a.m. Friday morning.

The AccuWeather.com weather forecast predicts wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph across a wide area expected to feel the effects of Debby, which is now a post-tropical cyclone. The private weather forecasting company noted that the biggest concern for New Jersey remains the wind and tornado threat, not heavy rain.

“Places like Philadelphia, New York City and Trenton, New Jersey, may have received even more rain Tuesday night than they did from Debby through Friday night,” said John Feerick, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.

Localized river flooding may continue into Saturday, but then skies will clear and provide a much-needed period of pleasant weather.

Maximum temperatures on Saturday and Sunday are expected to be between 27 and 30 degrees Celsius with low humidity. The fine weather with slightly below-average temperatures will continue throughout next week, the weather service said.

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