Tornadoes and waterspouts in February? Here's how rare NJ's wild winter weather is

It's a scene more common for July than February, but both a tornado and a waterspout touched down in New Jersey Tuesday.

A tornado touched down near Trenton causing damage along a nearly 6-mile stretch of Mercer County. A waterspout, a rotating column of air over water, was spotted off the coast of Sea Girt.

This does not happen every day. This definitely does not happen every day in February.

There have been 5 tornadoes in February since record keeping began in 1950, according to the National Weather Service.

“Tornadoes in February pretty rare over 70 years of record keeping, but not completely unheard of,” said Amanda Lee, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Mount Holly. “Three in 1973, one in 1999, and Tuesday in Mercer County.”

More:Sea Girt man photographs waterspout after NJ tornado warning

David Robinson, the state climatologist at Rutgers University, said the tornado that touched down in Mercer County was remarkable.

“This was an impressive tornado in (New Jersey) for any time of year, having that strength, a path length of 5.8 miles, and a width of 200 yards,” he said.

The tornado was rated EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, a scale to measure tornado intensity from wind damage, and packed swirling winds up to 115 miles per hour.

But it still did some damage.

Locations in Lawrence Township in Mercer County reported significant damage to uprooted and snapped trees, sidings, and roofing structures on residential complexes, and commercial buildings.

Robinson said it developed along a cold front on a day that featured winds swirling from multiple directions. At the same time, he said, the atmosphere was loaded with energy. The conditions may have been unusual, but the ingredients were there for a rare February severe weather event.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ Weather: How rare was this week's tornado, waterspout?