An unseasonably warm air mass and an intense low pressure system and cold front set the stage for an extremely windy day across New Jersey on December 17th. Gusty southerly winds buffeted the region during the first half of the day. Winds reached high wind levels across Sussex, Morris, Middlesex and Monmouth Counties even without the thunderstorms before noon EST. Elsewhere (and later in central New Jersey) thunderstorms embedded within bands of heavy precipitation exacerbated the wind. Please look at separate Stormdata entries on this date about the severe thunderstorms. As the cold front passed through the region during the afternoon of the 17th, the strong southerly winds were replaced by equally strong westerly winds into the evening. The difference was there were no thunderstorms to mix down even stronger winds. Most of the peak wind gusts occurred during the morning and were between 40 and 60 mph. Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down in Northwest New Jersey. GPU Energy reported 26,800 customers lost power in Northwest New Jersey.  In Middlesex County, a tree fell on a house at 7 a.m. EST in East Brunswick Township. Trees and wires were also knocked down on Agate Road. A similar incident (tree on a house) occurred about the same time in Willingboro (Burlington County) Township. About 8,500 homes and businesses lost power around Flemington (Hunterdon County). Power was lost at the Hamilton Mall in Atlantic County about 6 p.m. EST after some wires were pulled down, stranding numerous holiday shoppers. In addition to Northwest New Jersey, an additional 30,200 customers lost power in Central and Southern New Jersey. Most of the outages occurred during the severe thunderstorms.  Reported peak wind gusts included 70 mph in Keansburg (Monmouth County), 58 mph in Sparta (Sussex County), 56 mph in Stewartsville (Warren County), 53 mph at the Cape May Coast Guard Station, 48 mph at Barnegat Light (Ocean County) and Mount Holly (Burlington County), 46 mph in Trenton (Mercer County), Wildwood (Cape May County) and Whitehouse Station (Hunterdon County) and 44 mph at the Atlantic City International Airport.  Record breaking high temperatures occurred at both the Philadelphia (65 degrees) and Lehigh Valley (63 degrees) International Airports on the 17th, but fell one degree short of tying (64 degrees and 63 degrees respectively) the record at both the Atlantic City International Airport and the Marina within Atlantic City.

High Wind in MIDDLESEX, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 11:00:00 (EST)
Magnitude: 50 E
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in MORRIS, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 11:00:00 (EST)
Magnitude: 50 E
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in SUSSEX, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 11:00:00 (EST)
Magnitude: 50 M
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

High Wind in WESTERN MONMOUTH, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 11:00:00 (EST)
Magnitude: 61 M
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in WESTERN MONMOUTH, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 11:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in WESTERN OCEAN, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in GLOUCESTER, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in HUNTERDON, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in MERCER, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in MIDDLESEX, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 11:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in MORRIS, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 11:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in SALEM, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in SOMERSET, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in SUSSEX, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 11:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in WARREN, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in WESTERN ATLANTIC, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in WESTERN CAPE MAY, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in CUMBERLAND, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in EASTERN ATLANTIC, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in EASTERN CAPE MAY, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in EASTERN MONMOUTH, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind in EASTERN OCEAN, NEW JERSEY
From 17-DEC-00 04:00:00 to 17-DEC-00 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC