Cold in New Jersey, January 9 to 11, 2004

An arctic air mass brought some of the coldest weather in years to New Jersey from the evening of the 9th through the morning of the 11th. The low temperature of 4 degrees at nearby Philadelphia International Airport on the 10th was the coldest day of the winter and the lowest reading since February 5, 1996. What made this even more unusual was that the brutally cold air mass occurred with no snow cover. Winds around the center of the arctic high pressure system were from the north and by-passed the warming effects normally received from the Great Lakes and subsidence from the Appalachian Mountains. The unseasonably cold weather was a dangerous situation for the homeless as well as for the elderly who could not afford to heat their homes. There was a dramatic increase in phone calls to social services by individuals who have run out of heat or could not afford to pay their utility bills. Additional schools and community centers were opened as shelters. Many municipalities declared code blues to assist the homeless. Teams went outside to locate homeless people and get them to shelters. The unseasonably cold weather caused many pipes to freeze and burst both inside and outside of structures as well as a higher occurrence of water main breaks. In Ocean County, a burst pipe and the subsequent flood ruined thousands of books at the county library in Toms River. The cold weather also led to an increase in workload in hospital emergency rooms. Fire fighters were having problems battling blazes as the water quickly turned to ice. In some instances the water was freezing in hoses and the trucks. Fire fighters were injured slipping and falling on the ice. There was a higher incidence of chimney fires and a general shortage of firewood developed. Many vehicles were not starting because of dead batteries. Specific low temperatures included 10 degrees below zero in High Point (Sussex County), 8 degrees below zero in Sparta (Sussex County), 4 degrees below zero in Long Valley (Morris County), 1 degree below zero in Estell Manor (Atlantic County), Hope (Warren County) and Millville (Cumberland County), zero in Flemington (Hunterdon County) and Woodbine (Cape May County), 1 degree in New Brunswick (Middlesex County), Somerville (Somerset County) and Wrightstown (Burlington County), 2 degrees in Trenton (Mercer County), 4 degrees at the Atlantic City International Airport, West Deptford (Gloucester County) and Brant Beach (Ocean County), 5 degrees in Somerdale (Camden County), 7 degrees at the Marina within Atlantic City and 8 degrees in Cape May City. An arctic cold front cleared all of New Jersey on the 9th and cleared the way for the arctic air mass. The high pressure system, or the core of the arctic air mass, moved from just west of James Bay on the morning of the 9th, to along the Ontario/Quebec Province border on the morning of the 10th to Virginia and North Carolina on the morning of the 11th.