NWS: Straight-line winds, not a tornado, ripped through Shore town

A line of severe storms that blew through the Jersey Shore early last Friday morning caused significant damage in one Jersey Shore town.

But despite public chatter about a tornado touchdown, the National Weather Service confirmed Monday that the damage in Monmouth County’s Wall Township was due to straight-line winds.

According to NOAA, straight-line winds are the result of the outflow generated by a thunderstorm downdraft. While a tornado has rotating winds, as the name implies, straight-line winds are in one direction.

In Wall Township, a National Weather Service survey team inspected the damage near the Monmouth Jet Center airfield. They discovered a mangled recreational trailer that had rolled 50 feet, blown out windows in vehicles, structural damage, snapped trees, a twisted and bent stopped sign, and several snapped and felled utility poles on Route 34.

In addition, several large structural beams were tossed well over 300 feet into a field, and wooded debris were found lodged in an office building, according to the damage assessment.

No injuries were reported.