9 tornadoes confirmed for the weekend twister outbreak

Investigators for the National Weather Service have confirmed nine tornadoes — and an equally strong 100 mph straight line wind — swept a path of destruction through the region on Saturday, killing one person in Delaware.

The updates Monday night and Tuesday added three twisters in New Jersey that hadn’t previously been confirmed: one in Crosswicks, Burlington County, another from Allentown to Cream Ridge in Monmouth County, with peak winds of 90 mph, and a third near Mays Landing, with top winds of 100 mph. All three were rated EF-1s on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

A 0 is the lowest on the EF scale, with winds of with winds of 64 to 75. And EF-1 packs winds of 86 to 110 mph. A 5 is the highest with winds over 200 mph.

In all, seven of the nine tornadoes swept through New Jersey.

» READ MORE: Fatality confirmed in Delaware tornado, one of 6 twisters that hit the Philly area over the weekend

The first twister to strike the region, however, was the most deadly and powerful: An EF3 cruised through Delaware 6 p.m. April 1, with winds reaching a ferocious 140 mph in the Bridgeville-Ellendale area. The raw power blew six parked semitrailers along a driveway, and collapsed a two-story home after it slid off its foundation. Debris flew hundreds of yards due to the funnel cloud.

No further information was immediately available about a fatality linked to the Delaware twister. However, it carved a 14.3 mile path of destruction. The only other tornado-related fatality in Delaware occurred in 1983, according to the weather service. The strongest tornado on record in Delaware struck on April 28, 1961, in New Castle.

And although 100 mph hour winds that ripped though Palmyra and Riverton along the Delaware River in Burlington County were not cyclonic, but moved in a straight line, they still reached EF1 speeds.

Dean Iovino, a meteorologist at the National Weather Services’ Mount Holly, N.J., office, called the outbreak “unusual” and said investigators were still compiling information on the remaining two possible twisters.

“We just haven’t been able to put it in context of how unusual it really was,” Iovino said. “We just haven’t had time to sit down and go through everything.”

The outbreak, he said, was linked to the devastating spawn of more than 50 tornadoes that swept though the South and Midwest days prior, killing 32 people, and leveling homes and businesses.

Conditions on Saturday — April Fools’ Day — were ripe for a tornado, he said.

The day started cloudy with some rain in the morning. But the day cleared, bringing bright sunshine and temperatures that warmed rapidly into the 70s. That collided with the strong cold front that caused the tornados in the Midwest and South.

“That very strong cold front was accompanied by some very strong winds aloft, not too far off the surface at just a couple thousand feet,” Iovino said. “There was just enough in the system to draw those winds down to the surface. That’s what caused the wind damage and tornadoes. It was it was very, very dynamic system.”

Iovino explained that the colder air at the surface drew down the warmer air, creating the cyclonic activity. He said that although it might be tempting to place the blame on climate change, there really is no way to indicate it as of now.

In Pennsylvania, investigators said a tornado emerged 6:45 p.m. in Wrightstown, Lower Bucks County, snapping and uprooting trees. It continued on to rip out trees on the Bucks County Community College campus, and blew off a roof facade of a strip mall in Newtown, with a continuous path of damage that ended near Newtown Cemetery.