Residents Ask: Did a Tornado Join Sandy?

Hurricane Sandy’s winds were loud, destructive, and unlike anything ever seen by many northern New Jersey residents.

Trees snapped like toothpicks and fell like dominoes in many places, leading some to believe it was more than just a hurricane that stormed through town.

Karen Villano, who lives atop Schooley’s Mountain, said a pattern of downed trees looked like they were wiped out by a tornado rather than Hurricane Sandy.

“About 30 trees were uprooted in a linear fashion,” Villano said. “These were mature trees with tap roots at least 6-feet deep. Curious onlookers have remarked they’ve never seen anything like this in their lives.”

While trees may have toppled in a fashion suggesting more than a hurricane, weather experts have no reports of anything but Sandy.

“This is what’s called straight-line winds,” National Weather Service meteorologist Ashley Sears said. “Sustained, hurricane force gusts can be directed in a straight line in one area, and the opposite direction just a few feet away.”

Now three days after Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, Sears said it’s “safe to say” no tornadoes touched down anywhere while the superstorm was pummeling the region.

“This hurricane is something you’d traditionally see in the Gulf Coast, not in northern New Jersey,” Sears said. “It’s understandable for people not to know what may have actually came through and how bad it really was.”

Any strange weather phenomena take place in your area? Upload your photos and explain what you saw, heard or felt during Sandy’s presence.