New Jersey, 2002

Sleet in New Jersey, January 9, 2002

January 9, 2002 · NWS PHI · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

A wintry mix of sleet and light freezing rain overspread much of northwest New Jersey during the morning of the 9th. Precipitation amounts were generally less than five hundredths of an inch, but untreated roads became very slippery.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 5 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 PHI wrote it up.

A wintry mix of sleet and light freezing rain overspread much of northwest New Jersey during the morning of the 9th. Precipitation amounts were generally less than five hundredths of an inch, but untreated roads became very slippery. In the rest of New Jersey, temperatures were above freezing as the sleet moved across. The light precipitation preceded a warm front that moved through the region later on the 9th. While it was warm enough aloft for precipitation to fall as rain, colder air near or at the ground forced it to change over to sleet or freeze on contact with the ground in northwest New Jersey.

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 9, 7:06 AM EST, 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 9, 7:06 AM EST, 54 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
700 EST WED JAN 9 2002

MSRBL FZRA OCRG AT IPT...SO WE WILL UPDATE ZONES TO HOIST A WSW
PRETTY MUCH FOR THE PREV SPS AREA.

TFG

PREV AFD..........................................................

WARM ADVECTION CLDS ARE INCRSG OVR THE AREA ERY THIS MRNG AND PRECIP
...XPCD TO BE SCT AND LGT...SHUD FOLLOW SUIT FOR MAINLY THE NRN TWO
THIRDS OF THE CWA. TIMING WUD BE THIS MRNG AND INTO THE AFTN NRN
THIRD...AND MID MRNG INTO ERY AFTN CNTRL ZONES. WITH TEMPS INITIALLY
BLO FRZG SFC AND ALF NRN ZONES WL FOLLOW THE PREV SHIFT AND KEEP HI
CHC FOR SCT FRZG RAIN/SLEET/SNOW MIXTURE NRN ZONES...WARMING GRDLY
BY LATE MRNG/MIDDAY TO SCT RAIN. S OF ABE WL SAY CHC RAIN LATE MRNG
INTO ERY AFTN...AS WARMING IS WELL UNDERWAY BY MID MRNG. MODELS ARE
IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT IN BRINGING A BAND OF HIR RH WITH WK
WRMFNT/TROF...BUT ORGANIZATION IS QUESTIONABLE SO PREFER 50 POPS
N...SHADING DOWN TO 30 TWD PHL. WITH CHC POPS AT THIS TIME WL NOT
ISSUE AN ADVY BUT RATHER ISSUE A FOLLOW-ON SPL WX STMT INDICATING
SCT AREA OF FRZG/FROZEN THIS MRNG. RE CLDS...SHUD BE MO CLDY N AND
WITH SOME THINNER AREAS IN CLDS OVR CNTRL AND SRN ZONES WL GO PTLY
SUNNY. WAS THINKING THAT NRN ZONES MAY SEE DIMINISHED CLD COVER TNGT
BUT MODELS ARE MORE PESSIMISTIC AND WL CONT MOCLDY...PTLY CLDY THU.

TEMPS...WITH SNOW COVER AND A PREVALENCE OF CLDS N WL SHADE TEMPS
CLOSER TO MOS. WL GO ABV MOS FOR THU MAXES CNTRL AND S ZONES.

WL ISSUE SCA FOR CSTL WATERS AND DE BAY AS WINDS HAVE INCRSD WITH
TIGHTENING GRADIENT.

FCSTID = 17
MPO   35  29  42  29 /  50   0   0  10
ABE   39  31  46  33 /  40   0   0  10
RDG   41  32  49  35 /  30   0   0  10
PHL   44  34  51  39 /  30   0   0  10
12N   37  31  44  30 /  50   0   0  10
SMQ   42  32  50  37 /  30   0   0  10
TTN   43  32  50  38 /  30   0   0  10
MIV   45  33  51  35 /  20   0   0  10
ACY   47  36  49  39 /  20   0   0  10
ILG   44  33  50  38 /  30   0   0  10
DOV   45  34  51  37 /  20   0   0  10
GED   45  34  52  38 /  20   0   0  10
ESN   46  35  52  38 /  20   0   0  10

.PHI...
DE...NONE.
MD...NONE.
NJ...WINT WX ADVY THIS MRNG NJ01/07/08/09/10
PA...WINT WX ADVSRY THIS MRNG PA54/55/60>62/67>69
MARINE...SCA SANDY HOOK NJ TO FENWICK ISLAND DE AND DE BAY.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 9, 4:35 AM EST, 3 hours 25 minutes before
NJZ001-007>010-PAZ054-055-060>062-068-069-091700-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT - SCATTERED LIGHT WINTRY PRECIP THIS MRNG
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
435 AM EST WED JAN 9 2002

...SCATTERED LIGHT SLEET...FREEZING RAIN...OR SNOW IS POSSIBLE THIS
MORNING OVER NORTHERN SECTIONS OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA AND
NORTHWESTERN NEW JERSEY...

LIGHT PRECIPITATION WILL MOVE OVER THE REGION FROM THE WEST THIS
MORNING. TEMPERATURES AT THE SURFACE WILL BE NEAR OR BELOW FREEZING
THROUGH MID MORNING...AND EVEN THROUGH LATE MORNING OVER THE
SOUTHERN POCONOS. WITH COLD EARLY MORNING TEMPERATURES ANY
PRECIPITATION IS LIKELY TO BE IN THE FORM OF SNOW...SLEET...OR EVEN
FREEZING RAIN MAINLY NORTH OF A READING-DOYLESTOWN-FLEMINGTON-
MORRISTOWN LINE. HOWEVER...AS WARMER AIR MOVES INTO THE REGION AT
HIGHER LEVELS IN THE ATMOSPHERE AND AS SURFACE TEMPERATURES WARM AS
WELL...ANY PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO CHANGE OVER TO PLAIN RAIN BY
LATE MORNING OR MIDDAY...AND MOVE EASTWARD AND OUT OF THE AREA BY
EARLY OR MID AFTERNOON.

IN MOST AREAS THE PRECIPITATION WILL BE LIGHT AS WELL AS SCATTERED
AND UNORGANIZED. EVEN SO...TRAVELERS SHOULD USE CAUTION DURING THE
MORNING HOURS AND REMEMBER THAT EVEN A SMALL AMOUNT OF FREEZING RAIN
CAN FORM A DANGEROUS GLAZE OF ICE. ALLOW A LITTLE EXTRA TIME TO
REACH YOUR DESTINATION THIS MORNING.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AS WELL AS COMMERCIAL RADIO AND TV
FOR FURTHER DETAILS AND UPDATES.

FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION...CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT
WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/ER/PHI IN SMALL LETTERS.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 sleet. Local standard time, as filed.

Sleet, Hunterdon

When
January 9, 8:00 AM EST to 11:00 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)

Sleet, Morris

When
January 9, 8:00 AM EST to 11:00 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)

Sleet, Somerset

When
January 9, 8:00 AM EST to 11:00 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)

Sleet, Sussex

When
January 9, 8:00 AM EST to 11:00 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)

Sleet, Warren

When
January 9, 8:00 AM EST to 11:00 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)

What these are

Sleet
Sleet accumulating half an inch or more.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in New Jersey in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in New Jersey, January 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: 5277732, 5277733, 5277734, 5277735, 5277736.