Heavy Snow in New Jersey, February 22, 2001

Name: Heavy Snow in New Jersey, February 22, 2001
Start: 2001-02-22T20:00
End: 2001-02-22T22:00
Location: New Jersey

February 22, 2001 · NWS OKX · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

On Thursday February 22, a low pressure system over the southeast U. S.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 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: 5

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 OKX wrote it up.

On Thursday February 22, a low pressure system over the southeast U. S. quickly moved northeast off the mid Atlantic coast by Thursday evening. Well north of this storm system, an overrunning pattern of mild, moist air over a pre-existing cold air mass allowed for a large area of moderate snow to develop and spread northeast across northern New Jersey during the afternoon hours. Although the event was relatively brief in duration, snowfall rates of one to two inches per hour were common. This created hazardous traveling conditions for the Thursday evening commute across northern New Jersey, resulting in numerous minor traffic accidents.As the low pressure system continued moving out to sea, the snow tapered off from west to east during Thursday evening.Here are some specific snowfall amounts for this snow event:For Passaic County: 1.5 inches at Patterson, to 6 inches at Clifton.For Bergen County: 5 inches at Teterboro Airport, to 6 inches at Fairlawn.For Essex County: 5 inches at West Caldwell, to 6 inches at Newark International Airport.For Union County: 5 inches at Hillside, to 7.5 inches at Watchung and Berkeley Heights.For Hudson County: 4.5 inches at Kearny, to 6 inches at Harrison.

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 New York, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 22, 2:55 PM EST, 5 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 22, 2:55 PM EST, 5 hours 5 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
255 PM EST THU FEB 22 2001

NEW MODEL RUN LOOKS TO SHOW BETTER AGREEMENT WITH ETA...NGM AND AVN
WITH REGARD TO POSTIONING AND INTENSITY OF LOW. ETA COMPARISON WITH
IT'S PREVIOUS RUN SHOWS A SLIGHTLY WEAKER LOW AND POSITIONED ABOUT 50
MILES SOUTH AT 06Z. THAT WOULD MEAN LESS QPF FOR CWA. LOCAL MM5 A
LITTLE STRONGER WITH SURFACE LOW BUT KEEPS HIGHEST QPF OFFSHORE.

UPPER SHORTWAVE MOVES THROUGH QUICKLY AS WEAK VORT MAX SWINGS
THROUGH...WITH ASSOCIATED OMEGA BULLSEYE OCCURRING MAINLY OFFSHORE
BETWEEN 00Z AND 06Z.

RADAR SHOWS PLENTY OF SNOW APPROACHING QUICKLY. SAMPLING OF QPF
SHOWS ABOUT AN INCH OR TWO OF SNOW ACROSS MUCH OF THE REGION BY
00Z...THEN ANOTHER INCH OR TWO BY 06Z. NW ZONES SHOW MAYBE TWO
INCHES. COULD BE HEAVY FOR A TIME AS ETA OMEGA AND MID LEVEL TEMP
FIELDS SHOW BEST SNOW GROWTH LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

FRI...LOW MOVES NORTHEAST AND ANY MORNING CLOUDS WILL GIVE WAY TO
AFTERNOON SUN. AFTER FAIRLY WEAK GRADIENT BETWEEN THE LOW TO THE
EAST AND LOW IN SOUTHEAST CANADA...GRADIENT TIGHTENS AGAIN DURING
THE AFTERNOON.

FRI NIGHT LOOKS CLEAR AS HIGH BUILDS TO OUR NORTH.

ON SATURDAY...STRONG WEST STORM MOVES OUT INTO MID PORTION OF THE
COUNTRY. HIGH CIRRUS CLOUDS MAY SPILL OVER THE RIDGE LATER SATURDAY.
THEN AVN LOOKS TO SHOW MOISTURE AHEAD OF THIS IMPRESSIVE STORM BY
SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THE LONGER IT TAKES WILL HELP WITH REGARD TO MIXED
PRECIP.

MARINE: SMALL CRAFT WILL GO UP FOR CSTL ZONES ONLY FOR WINDS AND
SEAS.

TEMPS: NOT MUCH DEVIATION. WILL TAKE A BLEND OF MAV'S AND FWC'S.

.OKX...
CT...NONE.
NJ...WINTER WEATHER eADVISORY UNTIL 500 AM EST FRIDAY FOR
NJZ003>006-011.
NY...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 500 AM EST FRIDAY FOR ZONES
NYZ071>081.
MARINE...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR ANZ355-353-350.

PW

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Union

When: February 22, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Union forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, Essex

When: February 22, 9:00 PM EST
Where: Essex forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, Hudson

When: February 22, 9:15 PM EST
Where: Hudson forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.731, -74.076 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Bergen

When: February 22, 9:30 PM EST
Where: Bergen forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, Eastern Passaic

When: February 22, 10:00 PM EST
Where: Eastern Passaic forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.034, -74.300 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in New Jersey in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in New Jersey, February 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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5231764, 5231762, 5231763, 5233522, 5231761.