A complex area of low pressure over the middle Atlantic, which involved several individual centers, slowly consolidated off the Virginia Capes Tuesday morning, March 20th into Wednesday March 21st along a frontal boundary. This primary low, the fourth nor'easter of March, gradually moved northeast Wednesday night, to a position southeast of the 40 North/70 West Benchmark coordinates on Thursday morning.
Rain developed across far southern New Jersey on Tuesday morning, March 20th. As this precipitation moved northward into a colder air mass, snow and sleet developed across the remainder of southern New Jersey during the afternoon hours.
Northeast winds increased throughout Tuesday, and gusted 40 to 50 mph along the Atlantic coast from Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning.
Minor coastal flooding occurred along the New Jersey oceanfront around the times of high tide Tuesday night, Wednesday morning, and again Wednesday night.
During Tuesday evening, a mixed bag of precipitation developed, with freezing rain, sleet, and snow, except rain closer to the coast.
Freezing rain lead to ice accretion up to 0.20 across portions of southern New Jersey, causing downed trees and limbs, which impacted power lines, and led to power outages.
Meanwhile, higher elevations of eastern Pennsylvania and northwest New Jersey remained dry through the overnight hours of Tuesday into Wednesday. A change over to snow progressed southeast across New Jersey by late morning on Wednesday, March 21st, with the exception of Cape May County NJ, where it did not occur until the early to mid-afternoon. Meanwhile, snow began in the higher elevations of northwest New Jersey during the mid to late morning hours of Wednesday.
Moderate to heavy snowfall developed, and gradually overspread New Jersey, from Wednesday morning into the evening. Snowfall rates, particularly outside of the higher elevations of northern New Jersey were around one inch per hour at times. The snow gradually ended from west to east around midnight, except late night closer to the New Jersey shore.
Across New Jersey, snowfall amounts varied from less than 3 inches in portions of northern Sussex County and Cape May County, with a general 6 to 12 inches elsewhere, with the exception of portions of Monmouth, Ocean, and Burlington Counties, where some areas received 12 to 15 inches.
The weight of the heavy, wet snow brought down trees, limbs, and power lines across portions of southern New Jersey, which led to power outages. In fact, portions of Monmouth, southeast Burlington, Ocean, and Atlantic Counties in New Jersey were particularly hard hit with numerous trees and power lines down.