Ice Storm and Winter Storm in New Jersey, November 14, 1997

A coastal storm or nor'easter developed along the South Carolina coast the morning of the 13th and moved slowly northeast and was about 75 miles east of Salisbury Maryland at 7 a.m. EST on the 14th. The low pressure system then accelerated and was well southeast of Nova Scotia on the morning of the 15th. Preceding this low pressure was an unseasonably cold and dry air mass. This factor coupled with the northeast flow around the coastal low and the presence of a new and fresh supply of cold air supplied by another high pressure system in nearby Canada kept temperatures near the ground at or below the freezing mark and caused precipitation to fall as mainly freezing rain in Sussex County, in northern areas of Warren County and northwest sections of Morris County. The freezing rain contributed to a fatal accident in Sussex County as a 49-year-old man was killed at 147 p.m. EST when he lost control of his car and slammed into a utility pole on U.S. Route 206 in Sandyston Township.Precipitation started around midnight on the 14th and lasted most of the day. Precipitation ended as some light snow across much of the area, especially in Sussex County where 1 to 3 inches accumulated on top of the ice in the northwest hills. Across Hunterdon, Middlesex and Somerset Counties, precipitation started briefly as freezing rain before going over to plain rain. The rain then change back to freezing rain across northern parts of the counties before it ended late on the 14th. Ice accretions averaged around half an inch, but reached close to one inch in the northwest corner of Sussex County. The ice brought down tree limbs and power lines and caused power outages to 2,000 customers across Northwest New Jersey. A downed tree in Randolph Township (Morris County) caused the greatest concentration of outages in one area. The freezing rain contributed to numerous accidents across Northwest New Jersey. In Newton (Sussex County) alone twice vehicles were involved in head-on collisions after they slid into oncoming traffic. In Morris County, a Morris Township bus driver fractured both legs after the bus slid off a driveway into a tree. Two children were also injured. In Denville, a car slid into a guide wire, while in Parsippany, a van flipped onto its roof.