Winter Storm in New Jersey, March 5 to 6, 2001

Name: Winter Storm in New Jersey, March 5 to 6, 2001
Start: 2001-03-05T19:00
End: 2001-03-06T23:50
Location: New Jersey

March 5 to 6, 2001 · NWS OKX · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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.

A complex and slow-moving coastal storm affected much of northern New Jersey from Sunday March 4th through the early morning hours of Wednesday March 7th. This storm was accompanied by a mixture of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain through the early portion of the event, and mainly heavy snow for the remainder of the event. Gusty winds were also present throughout the duration of the storm.On Sunday March 4th, a strong low pressure system moved east across the Tennessee Valley, while a new low slowly developed off the Mid Atlantic coast. The precipitation shield accompanying this complex storm system moved north and reached northern New Jersey in the form of spotty light snow and sleet by Sunday afternoon. The precipitation intensified Sunday night and early Monday, but as warmer air moved into the region aloft, the snow changed to a mixture of sleet, freezing rain and rain by Monday morning along coastal sections. Some portions of interior New Jersey received several inches of snow from this initial surge of precipitation.During Monday March 5th, the new low pressure system off the Mid Atlantic coast began to intensify rapidly. Heavier precipitation associated with this developing coastal low remained east of New Jersey through much of Monday. As colder air was entrained into the storm's circulation, any precipitation that did occur during Monday afternoon and evening changed back to snow. The low slowly drifted north off the eastern end of Long Island late Monday night and Tuesday morning, and then became nearly stationary during Tuesday. This spread heavier bands of wet snow southwest across northern New Jersey by early Tuesday morning. The low then began to retrograde slightly to the southwest during Tuesday afternoon, continuing intermittent bands of moderate snow across northern New Jersey into Tuesday evening. The storm finally began to retreat east off the New Jersey coast Tuesday night and Wednesday, allowing the snow to taper off and end during the early morning hours of Wednesday March 7th.The combination of heavy wet snow and strong winds with this prolonged coastal storm produced scattered power outages across portions of northern New Jersey. Here are some storm total snowfall amounts:For Passaic County: 6 inches at West Milford, to 8 inches at Greenwood Lake.For Bergen County: 3.1 inches at Fair Lawn, to 7 inches at Cliffside Park.For Essex County: 6 inches at Newark International Airport and West Caldwell.For Hudson County: 3 inches at Secaucus, to 5 inches at Hoboken.For Union County: 2.2 inches at Watchung.

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 Mar 5, 2:35 PM EST, 4 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 5, 2:35 PM EST, 4 hours 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
235 PM EST MON MAR 5 2001

WESTERN SECTIONS (INCLUDING NYC) STARTING TO CHANGE OVER TO SNOW AS
UPPER LOW APPROACHES. HEAVIEST PRECIP NOW OVER EASTERN ZONES.

MODELS SIMILAR WITH POSITIONING OF LOW THROUGH TONIGHT...THEN SOME
DIFFERENCES TUESDAY. THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT ETA BRINGS THE MAJORITY
OF THE QPF TO THE NORTH OF THE LOW...WHICH CORRESPONDS TO JUST NORTH
OF OUR CWA. THE SFC LOW MOVES VERY CLOSE TO LI...WHICH RESULTS IN
TOO MUCH DRY AIR ALOFT IN THE MID AND UPPER LAYERS FOR ANY HEAVIER
QPF AMOUNTS. I LIKE THE AVN LOOK BETTER AS WRAP AROUND AND PLENTY OF
UVM OCCURS FROM NE TO SW FROM ROUGHLY BOS VCNTY INTO SOUTHERN CT.
THIS OCCURS THROUGH THE DAY TUESDAY...THEN CATEGORICAL SNOW
CONTINUES TUESDAY NIGHT BUT LIGHTENS UP AS UPPER SUPPORT AND SFC LOW
PULLS FINALLY TO THE EAST.

IN THE SHORT TERM...18Z SOUNDING SHOWS TOO MUCH WARM AIR AROUND H8
TO OVERCOME...EVEN WITH HEAVY PRECIP APPROACHING. DYNAMIC COOLING
WILL NOT OVERCOME THIS WARM LAYER FOR LATE THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS
EASTERN SECTIONS. FURTHER WEST...ANY MIXTURE SHOULD CHANGE TO ALL
SNOW QUICKLY BEFORE 00Z. EAST ZONES WILL TAKE A LITTLE LONGER.

ICE ACCUMULATIONS ARE THE CONCERN FOR LI...SRN CT EARLY. THEN
SNOW CONTINUES EVERYWHERE AFTER 06Z AND THROUGH TUESDAY. WILL GO
WITH A GENERAL ACCUMULATION ACROSS THE REGION OF 6 TO 10 INCHES.
WITH A FEW INCHES ALREADY ON THE GROUND OVER NORTHEAST NJ AND THE
LOWER HUDSON VALLEY...THIS WOULD MEAN A STORM TOTAL OF 1 TO 1 1/2
FEET. ALSO...WITH LOW PROXIMITY TO THE AREA...DO NOT EXPECT THE TYPE
OF WINDS AND CONDITIONS TO WARRANT BLIZZARD CONDITIONS.

LIGHT SNOW CONTINUES TUESDAY NIGHT AND ENDS LATER ON. ON
WEDNESDAY...THE LOW PULLS AWAY. MAY SEE SOME SUNSHINE DURING THE
AFTERNOON.

TEMPS: WILL UNDERCUT SOME OF THE HIGH TEMPS NEXT TWO DAYS...BUT
ESPECIALLY TUESDAY WITH STRONG NORTH TO NORTHEAST FLOW.

EXTENDED...WEAK CLIPPER SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH THURSDAY. YET ANOTHER
STORM WORKS ITS WAY FROM THE SOUTH LATER FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. AVN
MOVES THIS LOW TO PHL VCNTY BY SATURDAY MORNING. SNOW CHANGES TO
RAIN.

MARINE: GALES REMAIN UP BUT MAY LIGHTEN UP FOR A TIME LATER TONIGHT
AND EARLY WEDNESDAY AS LOW RETROGRADES NEAR WATERS.

AS FOR FLOODING CONCERN...TIDES RUNNING 2 1/2 TO 3 FEET ABOVE NROMAL
ATTM AND SHOULD REMAIN UP. THE ONLY HELP MAY BE A SHIFT AROUND TO THE
NW AS THE LOW APPROACHES. WILL CONTINUE THE COASTAL FLOOD WARNINGS
FOR TONIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY.

.OKX...
CT...WINTER STORM WARNING THROUGH TUE ZONES CTZ005>012.
     COASTAL FLOOD WRNG FROM LATE TDY INTO TUE ZONES CTZ009>012.

NJ...WINTER STORM WARNING THROUGH TUE ZONES NJZ002>006-011.
     COASTAL FLOOD WRNG FROM LATE TDY INTO TUE ZONES NJZ005-006-011.

NY...WINTER STORM WARNING THROUGH TUE ZONES NYZ067>081.
     COASTAL FLOOD WRNG FROM LATE TDY INTO TUE ZONES NYZ071>081.

MARINE...GALE WARNING ALL WTRS.

PW

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Western Passaic

When: March 5, 7:00 PM EST
Where: Western Passaic forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.034, -74.300 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Essex

When: March 6, 10:00 AM EST
Where: Essex forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Storm, Bergen

When: March 6, 11:50 PM EST
Where: Bergen forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

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, March 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: 5238939, 5238941, 5238940.