Severe thunderstorm watch for Hudson County until 10 p.m. Friday

The National Weather Service office in Upton, N.Y., issued Severe Thunderstorm Watch 687 at 4:02 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, for Hudson County and parts of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. The watch runs until 10 p.m., according to the weather service alert.

In New Jersey, the watch covers Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Union counties, the alert says. It also includes the five boroughs of New York City and Nassau, Westchester, Rockland, Orange and Putnam counties in New York, and Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut.

A watch is not a warning. Under a watch, severe thunderstorms are possible in and near the watch area, and people should stay informed and be ready to act if a warning is issued, according to the National Weather Service. A warning means severe weather has been reported by spotters or indicated by radar, the weather service says.

Earlier Friday, at 11:08 a.m., the weather service’s New York office said there was a slight risk of severe thunderstorms across much of the region from late afternoon into the evening, along a squall line with a strong cold front. “The primary threat will be damaging wind gusts,” the office said on X, adding that there was a “very low probability” of a brief tornado for parts of New York City and areas to the north and west.

NJ Transit said on X at 11:42 a.m. that “possible severe storms and high winds are expected today during the evening commute,” and asked riders to follow their rail, bus or light rail line accounts on X for service updates.

As of 4:53 p.m., the weather service had not issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Hudson County, according to its active alerts for the county. Hudson TV will update this story if that changes.