Thunderstorm Dumps Kids in Water, Without Warning?

High winds from a thunderstorm dumped 30 kids in the Shark River (hopefully a a meaningless moniker) near Belmar, New Jersey a week ago Monday morning, July 19th. The article makes it sound like the storm struck without warning but it was visible on radar hours in advance. There were no "Severe Thunderstorm Warnings" in effect until after the report of the boat capsizing was received, when one was issued. A Marine Warning was also in effect at the time of the boat capsizing, but was probably not issued in enough time to get to shore.

This was another situation, like the unwarned campground tornado and the unwarned New York State thunderstorm that I blogged about, where the National Weather Service had also issued a "Special Weather Statement" for the area well in advance, but those types of statements don't rise to the emergency status needed for NOAA Weather Radio alarms or Emergency Broadcast transmission. The only way you would know the statement was in effect was if you were checking your AccuWeather.com Mobile device, or you were receiving warnings from AccuWeather.com RadarPlus, which warns you of heavy rain or strong storms approaching, regardless of government classification. This is the third case this summer which has proven that even mediocre storms can be dangerous for outdoor activities and it's up to the public to prepare themselves.

There is a radar show below showing the storm as it overtook the boat (located at the "X"). You can also download a unzoomed and zoomed radar loop.