Heavy Snow in New Jersey, December 25 to 26, 2002

Name: Heavy Snow in New Jersey, December 25 to 26, 2002
Start: 2002-12-25T20:00
End: 2002-12-26T00:00
Location: New Jersey

December 25 to 26, 2002 · NWS OKX · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

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: 4

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 Tuesday, December 24th, an area of low pressure began to develop over the Gulf coast states. That night, the storm intensified as it moved northeast, reaching the Virginia coastline by daybreak on December 25th. Around this time, spotty drizzle and light rain along with a few pockets of light freezing rain began to overspread northeast New Jersey. As the morning progressed, the center of low pressure started to track northeast over the Atlantic along a path that hugged the coast. As a result, a steady rain began to fall over northeast New Jersey, and all of the freezing rain and drizzle changed over to plain rain. Early that afternoon, the rain began to change to snow from west to east across the region, as the storm started to move east of the tri-state area allowing the winds to shift to the north. By 3 pm, the entire area had changed over to all snow. During the late afternoon, narrow bands of heavy snow developed and moved over parts of the region, which accounted for the large ranges of snowfall with this storm. As the center of the storm continued to move northeast away from the area, the snow then tapered off to light snow and flurries during the evening, before ending around midnight. Snowfall amounts over northeast New Jersey ranged from 3 to 4 inches in some spots to as much as 8 to 12 inches in other locations. The heavier snowfall amounts generally occurred away from the urban areas, with the highest amounts over the northern portions of Passaic and Bergen Counties.

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 Dec 25, 7:55 PM EST, 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 25, 7:55 PM EST, 5 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE UPTON NY
755 PM EST WED DEC 25 2002

WILL DO AN UPDATE TO ACCOUNT FOR THE THE PRECIPIATION TO ALL SNOW
AND ALOS ADDED TO THE TOTALS FOR SOME OF THE ZONES. REST OF THE
FORECAST LOOKS GOOD. WILL DO AN UPDATE AROUND 1030 TO 11PM TO SMOOTH
THINGS OUT AND START THE ENDING OF THE SNOW. WARNINGS AND ADVISORYS
STILL STAND.

....PREVIOUS AFD....
EXTREMELY BUSY SHIFT WITH ALL SORTS OF PRECIPITATION TYPES ONGOING
ACROSS ALL ZONES. BASICALLY MAIN FEATURES NEXT SEVERAL DAYS...
LOW PRESSURE OFF THE NEW JERSEY COAST WILL CONTINUE TO INTENSIFY
THIS EVENING AS IT TRACKS JUST SOUTH THEN EAST OF THE FORECAST
WATERS. THE LOW WILL TRACK NORTHEAST INTO THE CANADIAN MARITIMES BY
THURSDAY EVENING. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE WATERS FRIDAY
AND SATURDAY. A WEAK AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL HEAD EAST THROUGH
NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND ON SUNDAY. HIGH PRESSURE CENTERED OVER THE
SOUTHEASTERN STATES WILL BUILD BACK INTO THE AREA ON MONDAY.

WILL CONTINUE WITH CURRENT SET OF WINTER STORM WARNINGS AND WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORIES BUT UP FINAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS JUST A BIT FOR
INTERIOR ZONES. WIND ADVISORY WILL ALSO REMAIN IN EFFECT THROUGH
TONIGHT.

PRELIMARY TEMPERATURES AND POPS FOLLOW...
EWR   30  40  30  41 /  90   0   0   0
MGJ   25  36  20  38 /  90   0   0   0
DXR   25  36  20  38 /  90   0   0   0
NYC   30  40  30  41 /  90   0   0   0
ISP   29  40  27  40 /  90   0   0   0
GON   26  38  26  39 /  90   0   0   0

.OKX...
CT...WINTER STORM WARNING...CTZ005>008.
     WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY...CTZ009>012.
     WIND ADVISORY...CTZ005>012.
NJ...WINTER STORM WARNING...NJZ002>004.
     WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY...NJZ005>006-011.
     WIND ADVISORY...NJZ002>006-011.
NY...WINTER STORM WARNING...NYZ067>070.
     WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY...NYZ071>081.
     WIND ADVISORY...NYZ067>081.
MARINE...GALE WARNING ALL WATERS...ANZ355-353-350-335-330-338.

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 25, 7:00 AM EST, 13 hours before

CTZ005>012-NJZ002>006-011-NYZ067>081-261700-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
700 AM EST WED DEC 25 2002

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST NEW YORK...
NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

LOW PRESSURE ALONG THE VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA WILL INTENSIFY
RAPIDLY INTO A VERY STRONG NOREASTER JUST OFF THE SOUTHERN NEW
JERSEY COAST TODAY.

A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY OF
NEW YORK...EXTREME NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND INTERIOR SOUTHERN
CONNECTICUT.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR THE REST OF THE FORECAST
AREA.

A WIND ADVISORY IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE FORECAST AREA. AS THIS
STORM DEEPENS...WINDS WILL STEADILY INCREASE AS THE DAY PROGRESSES.
NORTHEASTERLY WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO AROUND 50 MPH
ARE EXPECTED FROM MID AFTERNOON HOURS THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS.

PRECIPITATION ASSOCIATED WITH THE STORM WILL CONTINUE TO OVERSPREAD
THE REGION AND WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
INLAND...IT WILL BE COLD ENOUGH FOR SNOW THROUGH THE EVENT.
HOWEVER...WARMER AIR WILL GET WRAPPED UP IN THE STORM...SO IT IS
POSSIBLE SOME RAIN AND OR SLEET MAY MIX IN WITH THE SNOW AT TIMES
FRO A PERIOD THIS AFTERNOON.

ALONG THE COASTAL CONNECTICUT AND JUST NORTH AND WEST OF NEW YORK
CITY...SNOW WILL MIX WITH AND OR CHANGE TO RAIN...THEN CHANGE BACK
TO ALL SNOW BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON.

FOR NEW YORK CITY AND LONG ISLAND...RAIN WILL MIX WITH THEN CHANGE
TO SNOW BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON.

AS THE NOREASTER BEGINS TO MOVE TO OUR EAST LATE IN THE DAY COLDER
AIR WILL BE DRAWN IN RESULTING IN ALL SNOW. THE SNOW WILL TAPER
AROUND MIDNIGHT ACROSS NEW YORK CITY...THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY OF
NEW YORK AND NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND AFTER MIDNIGHT ACROSS LONG
ISLAND AND CONNECTICUT.

TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL VARY FROM 2 TO 4 INCHES ACROSS LONG
ISLAND AND NEW YORK CITY TO UP TO A FOOT POSSIBLE ACROSS PORTIONS OF
THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY AND INTERIOR SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT.

MINOR COASTAL FLOODING IS ALSO POSSIBLE WITH TIDAL DEPARTURES OF 2
TO 3 FEET EXPECTED.

GALE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR ALL WATERS AND SHOULD BE INTO THURSDAY
MORNING WITH STORM FORCE GUSTS POSSIBLE THIS EVENING.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTERS PLEASE CALL IN SNOWFALL REPORTS TODAY AND TONIGHT. ALSO,
REPORTS OF ANY CHANGE IN PRECIPITATION TYPE WOULD ALSO BE VERY
HELPFUL.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Western Passaic

When: December 25, 8:00 PM EST to December 26, 12:00 AM EST
Where: Western Passaic forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.034, -74.300 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Bergen

When: December 25, 8:30 PM EST to December 26, 12:00 AM EST
Where: Bergen forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Heavy Snow, Eastern Passaic

When: December 25, 10:30 PM EST to December 26, 12:00 AM EST
Where: Eastern Passaic forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.034, -74.300 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Essex

When: December 25, 11:00 PM EST to December 26, 12:00 AM EST
Where: Essex forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

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 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in New Jersey, December 2002

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: 5325408, 5325409, 5325410, 5325411.