The National Weather Service has confirmed that three EF-1 tornadoes touched down across Morris County during the severe storms of Tuesday, July 21, the same system that briefly put Denville and much of the county under a tornado warning.
In a damage survey released Wednesday evening, the weather service’s Mount Holly office mapped the path of each twister. All three were rated EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, and none caused any injuries or deaths.
The first tornado tracked from just west of Stanhope to near Netcong between 2:00 and 2:05 p.m., with winds of 80 to 90 mph along a 1.4 mile path. Surveyors found heavy tree damage near the Interstate 80 and Route 206 interchange, plus torn shingles and gutter damage on homes near Lake Musconetcong.
The strongest of the three hit the Lower Berkshire Valley section of Roxbury Township around 2:15 p.m., with peak winds of 100 to 110 mph. It uprooted a large hardwood tree and snapped a pine along Berkshire Valley Road and Little Lane before lifting near Mill Road.
A third tornado touched down in the Pine Brook section of Montville about 2:50 p.m., with winds of 80 to 90 mph. It downed trees and snapped a power pole along Hook Mountain Road before crossing near the Passaic River.
The weather service cautioned that its findings are preliminary and subject to change. Denville avoided a direct hit, though the storms brought heavy rain and scattered power outages. The tornadoes capped a volatile weather stretch that this month also brought Denville a heat advisory with cooling centers and an air quality alert.
