Winter Storm and Winter Weather in New Jersey, January 5 to 6, 2005

A winter storm affected northwestern New Jersey on January 5th and 6th. A combination of snow, sleet and ice fell throughout the region. While downed trees and tree limbs caused about 3,000 homes and businesses to lose power; the region escaped the catastrophic damage that occurred to the trees in the Poconos. Ironically precipitation started as plain rain around dawn on the 5th. It changed to snow during the morning in Sussex County and then later during the afternoon in Warren and Morris Counties. Precipitation then started to transition to freezing rain and sleet during the late evening of the 5th in Warren and Morris Counties and overnight in Sussex County. It took until the morning of the 6th for precipitation to change to freezing rain throughout Sussex County. Precipitation ended as freezing rain during the daylight hours on the 6th. Precipitation also fell as freezing rain between Midnight and 6 a.m. EST on the 6th in northern parts of Hunterdon County where ice accretions were generally less than two-tenths of an inch. Ice accretions in Warren and Morris County averaged between one-quarter and half an inch and around one quarter of an inch in Sussex County. Snowfall accumulations averaged 1 to 2 inches, except between 2 and 6 inches in Sussex County. The ice caused treacherous traveling conditions. A tractor-trailer overturned on Interstate 78 in Pohatcong Township in Warren County. About 3,000 homes and businesses lost power with the hardest hit townships included Blairstown and Hope in Warren County. All power was restored by Midnight EST on the 8th. Sussex County was spared outages as more precipitation fell as snow and sleet and not freezing rain. Snowfall accumulations included 6.0 inches in Wantage (Sussex County), 4.6 inches in Barry Lakes (Sussex County), 4.0 inches in Sussex (Sussex County), 2.0 inches in Butler (Morris County) and Andover (Sussex County) and 1.2 inches in Blairstown (Warren County). Ice accretions included one half of an inch in Blairstown (Warren County), one quarter of an inch in Dover (Morris County) and one-sixth of an inch in Port Murray (Hunterdon County). The set was stage for a winter storm when a cold front moved through the region on the 4th. This allowed a cold air mass in the low levels to establish itself in the region. As a low pressure system moved east from the the Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley, it pushed warmer air aloft above this cold air mass. Initially there was enough cold air from a high pressure system that slid across nearby Canada for precipitation to fall as snow. Eventually enough warm air moved in aloft for precipitation to fall as rain. But the high pressure system in nearby Canada kept enough of a fresh supply of cold air near the surface to have either sleet fall or the rain freeze on contact.