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Hardwick Named Lightning Capital of New Jersey

April 24, 2025

lightning bolt against dark blue sky — Hardwick Township, at the business end of this lightning bolt, has been named the Lightning Capital of New Jersey by Vaisala Ltd., an international weather tracking company. Photo by Joe Phalon.

You might be shocked to learn that Hardwick Township has been named the lightning capital of New Jersey for 2024.

The designation was awarded by Vaisala Ltd., a Finnish company that has been measuring and recording worldwide weather data for almost 90 years. Each year, Vaisala releases its Annual Lightning Report, a document eagerly awaited by industries and businesses such as airlines and electric utilities, as well as a large population of weather geeks.

lightning with dark trees and dark sky — New Jersey ranked 39th in the U.S. with 270,881 occurrences in 2024. Photo by Joe Phalon.

According to the 2024 report, Hardwick experienced 63 lighting occurrences per square kilometer. And as Warren County’s largest municipality by area — at 100.1 square kilometers, or 38.9 square miles — that means more than 6,000 lightning bolts last year.

So, is that a lot of lightning? Well, yes, for New Jersey. But in comparison to other parts of the United States, 63 occurrences per square kilometer pales in comparison.

Teague, Texas, which was named lightning capital of the United States, recorded 735 lightning occurrences last year per square kilometer — almost 12 times as many as Hardwick.

In fact, Texas led the nation with 40.4 million lightning strikes last year. In second place, Florida recorded 15.6 million. These are total numbers for the states, according to the Vaisala report, not per square kilometer.

By that measure, New Jersey ranked 39th with 270,881.

But still, being first in the Garden State is a crown Hardwick Mayor Chris Jacksic hopes the township can pass on in the next survey.

“It’s pretty interesting to be number one,” Jacksic said. “But I hope it doesn’t stay that way.”

Jacksic pointed out that the terrain of Hardwick includes the Kittatinny Ridge and Mount Tammany. The ridge stretches more than 15 miles along the western edge of the township and is known to create extensive updrafts — an essential ingredient for thunderstorms.

During fair weather, those same updrafts have made the region popular among glider pilots, who fly out of nearby Blairstown Airport.

Warren County remains in a drought emergency, the third highest of four levels of drought as measured by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The dry conditions make the extensive woodlands of Hardwick and surrounding communities particularly vulnerable to lightning-sparked wildfires.

Catfish Fire Tower, located on the Kittatinny Ridge, has been manned on a near-daily basis, said Bob Wolfe of the New Jersey Fire Service. And while lightning is responsible for just 16 percent of wildfire starts in the lower 48 states, those wildfires account for 56 percent of the total acreage burned, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Joe Phalon, Contributing Writer

Contributing Writer

Joe brings decades of journalism experience to the Ridge View Echo, covering everything from local school boards to the U.S. Supreme Court. A former National Law Journal editor and Columbia Law School press officer, he now enjoys telling community stories in Blairstown, where he lives with his wife, Rose, and their two dachshunds.