Winter Storm and Winter Weather in New Jersey, January 8 to 9, 1999

A low pressure system developed over Texas during the morning of the 8th. A broad southwest flow of air preceding it overran a frontal boundary over the central Appalachians and spread snow into the region the morning of the 8th. Enough warm air moved in aloft to start changing the snow to sleet and freezing rain. Since the low pressure system tracked across western Pennsylvania, the onshore flow brought in milder air into New Jersey and changed the freezing rain to plain rain. The freezing rain lasted the longest in the valleys of northwest New Jersey. Little if any freezing or frozen precipitation fell along the southern coastal areas. The change to plain rain occurred during the late afternoon and early evening in interior southeast New Jersey and spread slowly northwest through the evening and overnight. All locations were above freezing by 9 a.m. EST on the 9th. Snow began around 7 a.m. EST on the 8th in southwest New Jersey, spread northeast and reached Staten Island by 11 a.m. EST. In interior southern New Jersey sleet started to mix in with the snow around 1 pm. EST and precipitation changed over to sleet and freezing rain around 4 p.m. EST. The mixing with sleet and changing to freezing rain took longer farther north. At the same time warmer air moving in from the Atlantic Ocean raised temperatures above freezing. But this was a slow process. It took until 4 p.m. EST for plain rain to be falling in Atlantic and Monmouth Counties, around Midnight for Burlington County, around 2 a.m. EST on the 9th for Mercer County and not until around daybreak on the 9th for the valleys in northwest New Jersey. Accumulations averaged between 2 and 5 inches. There was little difference in accumulations from Cumberland County northward. Ice accretions were generally one-tenth of an inch or less, except they reached between one quarter and half an inch in the valleys of northwestern Sussex County. The wintry precipitation occurred on a Friday day and resulted in numerous accidents. In Warren County on the night of the 8th a truck driver was seriously injured after the truck crashed through a guardrail heading west on the Interstate 78 bridge over the Delaware River and plunged over 100 feet. In Monmouth County in Freehold, a school bus skidded off the road. In Ocean County, there were 28 minor accidents alone in Dover Township between 1030 a.m. EST and 230 p.m. EST. A handful of vehicles drove off the roads in southern Ocean County. In Mercer County, school districts dismissed the children early. One of the worst accidents closed the northbound lanes and resulted in a fatality on Interstate 295 near the scenic overlook at 1030 p.m. EST. In Burlington County, a speeding Greyhound bus slid off the New Jersey Turnpike in Springfield Township. Six persons were injured. Accumulations included 5 inches in Lambertville (Hunterdon County), Boonton (Morris County), Sussex (Sussex County) and Seabrook (Cumberland County), 4.5 inches in Tabernacle (Burlington County) and Princeton (Mercer County), 4 inches in Hamilton Township (Atlantic County), in almost every location in Monmouth County, in Moorestown (Burlington County), Verga and Swedesboro (Gloucester County), Toms River (Ocean County) and Hillsborough (Somerset County), 3.5 inches in Franklin (Sussex County), 3.3 inches in Somerdale (Camden County) and Mount Laurel (Burlington County), 3.2 inches in Wertsville (Hunterdon County) and Hightstown (Mercer County), 3.1 inches in New Brunswick (Middlesex County) and 2.5 inches in Stewartsville (Warren County).