Spring will have to wait another day.
Snow and ice pummeled the northern part of New Jersey Monday evening, and is creating a slippery, slow commute this morning, said Walter Drag, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Mount Holly.
The wintry blast has moved on for now – at least until Wednesday night, when a brief period of “significant snow” is expected to fall on parts of the Garden State on the first day of spring, Drag said.
“I think everything is under control now – the worst of it is past,” Drag said. “But tomorrow night we’re expecting it to fall at a pretty good clip. We don’t know yet how it’s going to be – we’ve got to get this first one out of the way.”
The greatest snow totals fell on the highest elevations into this morning. The most recorded was in Wantage, with 6 inches, and Butler, which recorded 5.2 inches, the National Weather Service says.
The winter storm warning will continue until 8 a.m., covering Sussex and northern Passaic counties, Drag said. It’s accompanied by a winter weather advisory for western Bergen, southern Passaic, Morris and Warren counties.
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Despite the tenth of an inch of ice this morning, power outages remain minimal. JCP&L is reporting only 32 customers without power –most of them in Mount Olive. PSE&G has listed only scattered outages in its service area.
An overturned tractor-trailer is slowing traffic on Interstate 78 in Union Township in Hunterdon County, according to the state Department of Transportation. But no other major accidents are being reported this morning in the areas with the wintry mix.
The band of snow late Wednesday — the first day of spring — will be followed by yet another frozen system early next week. But that’s currently on a track to stay south – at least for now, Drag said. A clearer forecast for the spring snowstorm will come into focus in the coming days, he added.
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