Winter Storm and Sleet in New Jersey, January 20 to 21, 2001

Name: Winter Storm and Sleet in New Jersey, January 20 to 21, 2001
Start: 2001-01-20T18:00
End: 2001-01-21T09:30
Location: New Jersey

January 20 to 21, 2001 · NWS PHI · 20 events in 20 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 20 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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 20

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 vigorous upper air disturbance coupled with a low pressure system that was intensifying east of the New Jersey coast produced heavy snow across the northern third of New Jersey and a wintry mix of sleet and snow across the rest of the state. Precipitation started again as snow across the northern third of the state during the early evening of the 20th. Farther to the south, where the air mass was warmer, precipitation started as rain. During the evening precipitation changed to sleet and then snow. It took until about midnight for the changeover to occur across extreme southeast New Jersey. The heaviest precipitation, thus the largest accumulation of sleet and snow, occurred across the northwest half of the state. Accumulations ranged from less than one inch in Cape May County to 10 inches in Morris County. The snow ended shortly after daybreak on the 21st.Because this event occurred on a Saturday night (the 20th) and a Sunday morning (the 21st), the number of traffic accidents was relatively lower. But, 46 people on a Greyhound Bus traveling from New York City to Atlantic City were injured around 2 a.m. EST on the 21st. The bus was traveling on the Garden State Parkway in Ocean County, when it slid, spun out and overturned after striking a guardrail. Most of the injuries were minor, but four persons required hospitalization, one with a broken hip. The driver was cited for careless driving. The only snow related fatality occurred in Hamilton Township in Mercer County when a 40-year-old male slid across a road in his pickup truck, struck a curb and then rammed his vehicle head on into a tree. Several vehicles slid into ditches in Mercer County.Specific accumulations included 10 inches in Jefferson Township (Morris County), 9 inches in Hoptacong (Sussex County) and Oak Ridge (Morris County), 8.5 inches in Stewartsville (Warren County), 8 inches in Branchville and Stockholm (Sussex County) and Belvidere (Warren County), 7 inches in Long Valley (Morris County), Andover (Sussex County), Hackettstown (Warren County) and Yardville (Mercer County), 6 inches Manalapan (Monmouth County), 5.5 inches in White House (Hunterdon County) and Hightstown (Mercer County), 5.3 inches in New Brunswick (Middlesex County), 5 inches in Morristown (Morris County), Belle Mead (Somerset County), Princeton (Mercer County) and Freehold (Monmouth County), 4 inches in Moorestown and Tabernacle (Burlington County), Pennsauken (Camden County), Metuchen (Middlesex County), Pottersville (Somerset County), and West Deptford (Gloucester County), 3 inches in Cherry Hill (Camden County), 2 inches in Seabrook (Cumberland County) and 1.1 inches in Estell Manor (Atlantic County).

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 Jan 20, 3:29 PM EST, 2 hours 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 20, 3:29 PM EST, 2 hours 31 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
329 PM EST SAT JAN 20 2001

THIS FCST HOLDS A FAIR AMOUNT OF CONTINUITY FROM PREVIOUS ONE. SOME
MINOR MODIFICATIONS TO SNOWFALL PREDICITIONS BASED ON COORD WITH
SURROUNDING OFFICES AND HPC AND A MILD DELAY IN PRECIPITATION
CHANGEOVER.

AVN AND ETA ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT NOW ON THE PATH OF THE MID LEVEL
LOW...WHICH IS NOW GENERATING SNOW OVER THE CENTRAL OH RVR VALLEY.
THEY ARE ALSO IS FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT ON FAIRLY STRONG VERTICAL
VELOCITIES AS THIS FEATURE MOVES ACROSS FA. MOISTURE PLUME FROM THE
SSW HAS BEEN HANGING JUST OFF THE COAST ALL DAY BUT SOME OF THIS MAY
WELL GET SUCKED INTO THE APCHG SYSTEM. GVN MODELS HAVE A TENDENCY TO
UNDERPLAY SNOW DUE TO AN UPPER SYSTEM WAS FEELING GOOD ABOUT RAISING
SOME AMOUNTS OVER NRN AND CNTRL FA...BUT MODELS ALSO VERY CONSISTENT
IN DRYING US OUT FROM TIME TO TIME AOA H6 OVERNIGHT. THIS COULD
ACTUALLY MEAN OSCILLATING BETWEEN SN AND -FZDZ WHENEVER SNOW DEVELOPS...
BUT DIDNT FEEL CONFIDENT ENOUGH TO WORD FCST AS SUCH. JUST WENT
OCCASIONAL SNOW AND BASICALLY DID NOT INCREASE AMOUNTS.
IN FACT...DWN SRN AND ERN FA...THE TIMING OF A CHANGEOVER GETS
BACKED UP A LTL. DYNAMIC COOLG CERTAINLY WILL ENSURE THAT CHANGEOVER
EVERYWHERE...BUT THE DELAY S AND E MADE FOR SOME MODEST DECREASES IN
AMOUNTS THERE.

GUIDANCE TEMPS NOT TOO DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER OR FROM PREV FCST
AND BASICALLY ACCEPTED THEM. DID RADIATE US SOME TMRW NITE IN ALL
BUT FAR SRN AND SERN ZONES IN ANTICIPITATION OF LGT WINDS AND SNOW
COVER AS SFC HIGH MOVES IN. MAY NOT HAVE DONE IT ENOUGH. STAYED A
LTL UNDER GUIDANCE FOURTH PD...AGAIN IN ANTICIPATION OF SOME SNOW
COVER THAT DOESNT EXIST MOST LOCATIONS NOW.

ON THE MARINE...CONTINUE GALES FOR THE NJ/DE COASTS AND LWR DEL BAY
AND SCA FOR THE UPPER BAY. FEEL IT IS A MARGINAL GALE BUT DO NOT
FEEL IT IS PRUDENT TO DROP IT NOW.

.PHI...WINTER STORM WARNING PAZ054/055/060>062/067>071/NJZ001/007/
       008/009/010/012>020/026/MDZ008/DEZ001

       WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MDZ012/015/019/020/DEZ002>004/
       NJZ021>025

       GALE WARNING COAST AND LOWER DE BAY.

       SCA UPPER DEL BAY.

MPD

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

14 sleet, 6 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Hunterdon

When: January 20, 6:00 PM EST to January 21, 9:00 AM EST
Where: Hunterdon forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.567, -74.912 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Mercer

When: January 20, 6:00 PM EST to January 21, 9:30 AM EST
Where: Mercer forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.283, -74.702 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Morris

When: January 20, 7:00 PM EST to January 21, 9:00 AM EST
Where: Morris forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.862, -74.544 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Sussex

When: January 20, 7:00 PM EST to January 21, 9:00 AM 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)

Winter Storm, Warren

When: January 20, 7:00 PM EST to January 21, 9:00 AM EST
Where: Warren forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.857, -74.997 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Somerset

When: January 20, 7:00 PM EST to January 21, 9:00 AM EST
Where: Somerset forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.564, -74.616 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Monmouth

When: January 20, 8:00 PM EST to January 21, 9:00 AM EST
Where: Western Monmouth forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.288, -74.158 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Burlington

When: January 20, 8:00 PM EST to January 21, 8:00 AM EST
Where: Burlington forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.878, -74.668 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Camden

When: January 20, 8:00 PM EST to January 21, 8:00 AM EST
Where: Camden forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.804, -74.960 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Gloucester

When: January 20, 8:00 PM EST to January 21, 8:00 AM EST
Where: Gloucester forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.717, -75.142 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Middlesex

When: January 20, 8:00 PM EST to January 21, 9:00 AM EST
Where: Middlesex forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.440, -74.409 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Salem

When: January 20, 8:00 PM EST to January 21, 8:00 AM EST
Where: Salem forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.577, -75.358 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Eastern Monmouth

When: January 20, 10:00 PM EST to January 21, 9:00 AM EST
Where: Eastern Monmouth forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.288, -74.158 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Western Atlantic

When: January 20, 10:00 PM EST to January 21, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Western Atlantic forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.469, -74.634 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Western Cape May

When: January 20, 10:00 PM EST to January 21, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Western Cape May forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.085, -74.850 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Western Ocean

When: January 20, 10:00 PM EST to January 21, 8:00 AM EST
Where: Western Ocean forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.866, -74.250 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Cumberland

When: January 20, 11:00 PM EST to January 21, 8:00 AM EST
Where: Cumberland forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.328, -75.129 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Eastern Atlantic

When: January 20, 11:00 PM EST to January 21, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Eastern Atlantic forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.469, -74.634 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Eastern Ocean

When: January 20, 11:00 PM EST to January 21, 8:00 AM EST
Where: Eastern Ocean forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.866, -74.250 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Eastern Cape May

When: January 20, 11:30 PM EST to January 21, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Eastern Cape May forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.085, -74.850 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.
Sleet: Sleet accumulating half an inch or more.

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, January 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: 5227935, 5227936, 5227937, 5227938, 5227939, 5227951, 5227940, 5227941, 5227942, 5227948, 5227949, 5227950, 5227946, 5227952, 5227953, 5227954, 5227943, 5227944, 5227947, 5227945.