Name: Winter Weather in New Jersey, December 17, 2001
Start: 2001-12-17T05:00
End: 2001-12-17T12:30
Location: New Jersey

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS PHI wrote it up.

A high pressure system over nearby Canada and a warm front approaching from the southwest combined to produce some light freezing rain mainly during the morning of the 17th in Sussex County. The high pressure system provided subfreezing temperatures near the surface while the warm front brought in warmer air (above freezing temperatures) aloft. The combination led to freezing rain. While precipitation amounts were light, generally less than one tenth of an inch, untreated roads were slippery. The slippery roads led to delayed school openings of up to two hours in Montague and Vernon.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 17, 2:15 AM EST, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 17, 2:15 AM EST, 2 hours 45 minutes before

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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Weather, Sussex

When: December 17, 5:00 AM EST to 12:30 PM EST
Where: Sussex forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.140, -74.690 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Weather: Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in New Jersey in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in New Jersey, December 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5274916.