By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Nature put on a show of its own the night before the Fourth of July.
Parts of Hillsborough experienced strong, horizontal winds and a lot of rain, probably falling short of anything resembling a tornado or a "downburst," a wind system that blows in a straight line in all directions from one source.
Downbursts are different from a tornado, where high-velocity winds circle a central point, and then move in and up. Downburst winds blow down and then out.
David A. Robinson, a township resident who is a geography professor at Rutgers University as well as the New Jersey state climatologist, said strength of winds and amounts of rain varied in different areas of the township.
Mr. Robinson said he was aware of tree damage in the Route 206 corridor, but in the Country Classics development the wind gusted to 29 mph — not enough to cause the tree damage seen near Route 206, he said in an email. There the winds might have been over 40 mph.
"I’ve heard nothing about the National Weather Service checking out a tornado or even a downburst," he wrote. "Just chalk it up to a severe thunderstorm with straight line winds."
He said 1.7 inches of rain fell in Country Classics. Interestingly on July 2 a storm brought about 1.7 inches of rain to the northwest corner of Hillsborough while the southeast (Country Classics) corner had four-tenths of an inch. On the 3rd the northwest section had about 0.40 of an inch.
"We’re a big town and, yup, summer storms are intense in narrow swaths," he said.
Rich Resavy, the township director of public works, said he received text alerts about the weather as he was having dinner at about 8 p.m. at a Stockton restaurant, where the storm wasn’t overly notable, he said.
"I said, ‘what the heck is happening in Hillsborough.’"
He said the higher elevations (Zion, Long Hill, East Mountain roads) were hit harder, with trees snapping at the top and some power outages. A township crew of five was out with front end loaders, chippers and a bucket truck to deal with emergencies pointed out by the police department, he said, and back again the next day cleaning up.
He suspected the storm may have exposed trees that had previous damage or been compromised, he said, particularly in wind describe to him as erratic, helter skelter and not in one direction.
The township has opened its Auten Road mulch site through tomorrow, Friday, from 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. so people can dispose of storm debris, he said. Township senior citizens can call 908-369-3950 for curbside pickup for storm debris only. The pickup will be the week of July 14-18. Only those seniors who call for an appointment will have their storm debris picked up at the curb.
The Auten Road facility will be open from 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. for July 26 coupon holders as well as those residents in need of disposing of storm debris only.

