Another wintry mess to start the week

New Jersey will be on the edge of a significant winter storm system, and will experience a wintry mess of snow, sleet, freezing rain, and rain through tomorrow morning.

UPDATED at 11:30 am on Monday...

The worst part of the storm appears to be over - earlier today, the significant icing on the roads due to freezing rain made for a very difficult (if not impossible) morning rush hour. As we push into this afternoon, this evening, and overnight, the models have indicated that our remaining precipitation will be mostly light and spotty. But still mostly frozen. And we won't be completely "done" with this system until early tomorrow morning (final flakes look to fall somewhere in the 8-9 a.m. time frame).

Even though the intensity will be only light or moderate, a prolonged period of light snow or sleet can still cause snow or ice accumulation. So this evening's commute and Tuesday morning's commute could still be treacherous in spots due to snow and ice... but I don't think it will be nearly as severe as Monday morning. Continue to exercise caution, be safe, and be smart.

As of this writing, the National Weather Service has extended their earlier Winter Weather Advisory to include all 21 counties of New Jersey. The advisory calls for potentially hazardous travel conditions due to snow and ice, and is currently set to expire at 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Original post from earlier this morning...

Sigh. Long gone are the 60-degree temperatures in South Jersey yesterday.

The worst effects of this winter storm will be felt from Upstate New York to New England, where over two feet of snow is expected. In New Jersey, we’re on the edge of this storm and right on the freezing line, so it will be another winter storm with a mixed bag of wintry precipitation types from north to south across the state.

The daytime hours will feature a wintry mix of snow and sleet (North), sleet and freezing rain (Central), and rain (South). The worst possible scenario in that mix would be freezing rain, which would cause the most significant icing. As I mention often, it only takes a very thin glaze of ice to create a difficult and even dangerous situation on roads, sidewalks, power lines, and more.

Tonight, as temperatures drop well below the freezing mark across the entire state, all precipitation that falls should be snow or sleet, even in South Jersey.

The last licks of this storm system will come early Tuesday morning, with some leftover snow showers along the immediate coast (east of the Parkway).

Following this storm, we’ll have about two quiet days before our next chance of snow. A clipper system will bring a shot of snow on Thursday. For now, snow accumulations from this system look light - maybe an inch or two. Another chance for snow will come on Saturday night into Sunday, but it’s still way too far away to pinpoint potential accumulations.