Back when I was a towheaded lad, I recall asking my father why we lived in New Jersey.
To his credit, my Dad didn't respond with a Foghorn Leghorn-like "Go away boy, ya bother me" attitude. Instead, he explained how New Jersey was a wonderful place to live because the state experienced the best conditions of each season — pleasant springs, hot summers, colorful autumns and beautiful, snowy winters.
At least, I’m pretty sure that’s the explanation he offered when I was shoveling a couple of feet of the “beautiful” stuff off the driveway.
New Jersey tends to fall somewhere in the middle of national rankings for average annual snowfall. The National Weather Service’s records dating back to 1931 show Newark with an average annual snowfall of 27.6 inches, compared to 116.9 average inches in Syracuse and zero in Miami, which has never recorded an accumulating snowfall (sound of raspberries). The last snow season, spanning 2013 and 2014, an average 54.3 inches of the white stuff was dumped on the Garden State.
Whether we get 28 inches or snow or 54 inches of the stuff, New Jerseyans have ample opportunity to participate in winter activities such as shoveling and sledding.
That brings me to another point: is it “sledding” or “sleigh riding” when one rides down a hill of snow on something?
When we did a story on the Flexible Flyer sled last year — invented in New Jersey — we apparently opened a can of worms as to what the "proper" New Jersey term for the activity is. The farther south one goes, the more fervent is the opinion that it's called "sledding." Head north, and it's apparently always been called "sleigh riding." My completely unscientific analysis of the commentary suggests that the cutoff lies somewhere along a line that bisects Union County.
Perhaps you could weigh in with your opinion to see if we can figure this out once and for all.
Be sure to click on the captions button in the gallery above to read even more about some of these winter scenes in New Jersey.
We also invite you to post your comments about and your own photos of winter in New Jersey. To insert a photo, simply click on the image icon under the writing field for instructions. Your snapshots may be used in an upcoming Throwback Thursday photo gallery on NJ.com.