Wednesday Morning's Weather Discussion

Well, this storm turned out pretty much as expected with a few small surprises as is normal for any storm.  The main surprise was that the snow/sleet/rain gradient moved a touch further north at the last minute, so some people closer to the city got very little accumulation, like in Eastern Bergen County, while people in the Western part of Bergen County got as much as 3 inches of snow.  Overall, it looks like it was a 1-5 inch mixture of snow and sleet throughout our area, which was for the most part, what I forecast, so I am happy with the forecast.  Looking forward, a storm will form over the Southeastern United States tomorrow and might get as close to us as South Jersey and the Jersey shore on Thursday night into Friday morning where some snow is possible, but is should remain south of our area.  The next chance of snow showers will be on Sunday as a weak storm passes by to our north, bringing us cooler weather for next week.  Then on Tuesday, there remains a chance of a Nor’easter, although there are many questions as to whether this storm will develop, and if it does, whether it would have an impact on our area.  After that storm possibility, the next one to watch will be Friday when there is again the possibility of a Nor’easter developing.  Keep in mind that both of these storms just remain possibilities at this point, there is no guarantee that they will develop or that they will affect us if they do.  Check back for updates.   It does however look as if it will get quite cold next week, with highs only in the 20’s some days, and lows possibly dropping to the single digits on Wednesday morning.   

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

SPOTTER REPORTS

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ

612 AM EST WED JAN 16 2013

THE FOLLOWING ARE UNOFFICIAL OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DURING THE PAST 26

HOURS FOR THE STORM THAT HAS BEEN AFFECTING OUR REGION. APPRECIATION

IS EXTENDED TO HIGHWAY DEPARTMENTS...COOPERATIVE OBSERVERS...SKYWARN

SPOTTERS AND MEDIA FOR THESE REPORTS. THIS SUMMARY IS ALSO AVAILABLE

ON OUR HOME PAGE AT WEATHER.GOV/PHI

********************STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL********************

LOCATION          STORM TOTAL     TIME/DATE   COMMENTS                  

                     SNOWFALL           OF

                     /INCHES/   MEASUREMENT

NEW JERSEY

...MORRIS COUNTY...

   POMPTON PLAINS         3.0   400 AM  1/16  PUBLIC                 

   LAKE HOPATCONG         2.0   431 AM  1/16  PUBLIC                 

   MARCELLA               1.5   213 AM  1/16  TRAINED SPOTTER        

...SUSSEX COUNTY...

   WANTAGE                4.0   425 AM  1/16  TRAINED SPOTTER        

...WARREN COUNTY...

   BLAIRSTOWN             4.2   600 AM  1/16  TRAINED SPOTTER        

   PHILLIPSBURG           1.0   133 AM  1/16  MOSTLY SLEET.