Winter Weather — Middlesex, New Jersey

2015-02-09 · Middlesex, New Jersey

Wider weather episode

A protracted event of light snow, sleet and especially freezing rain caused traveling difficulties and accidents in northern and southwest New Jersey on the 8th and 9th. While precipitation occurred intermittently and amounts were overall light, untreated roadways were treacherous. Ice accumulations throughout the state averaged less than one tenth of an inch and snow and sleet accumulations in the northwest part of the state averaged around one inch. A pair of large multi-vehicular accident resulted in a fatality on the 9th on the New Jersey Turnpike in Middlesex County.

Across northwest New Jersey including the Passaic Basin precipitation initially started as rain on the afternoon of the 8th. It changed to sleet on the evening of the 8th and then to freezing rain overnight. Precipitation changed back to sleet during the morning of the 9th and to snow during the late morning and early afternoon that day. The snow ended early on the 10th. Across central (including the Raritan Basin) New Jersey, freezing rain started during the early morning of the 9th and mixed with sleet later in the day. Some snow also occurred before precipitation ended late that evening. Across southwest New Jersey, a mixture of sleet and freezing rain occurred during the morning and evening of the 9th and some freezing drizzle occurred overnight on the 9th. Across southeast New Jersey, little, if any precipitation fell.

Icy conditions were blamed for a fatal, 40-vehicle pileup on the New Jersey Turnpike on the evening of the 9th that killed a 52-year-old man and injured 61 others. The man was trapped in his Toyota Corolla as a result of the chain-reaction crash on the outer truck lanes. Nineteen vehicles were involved in that crash. Two tractor-trailers slowed in an attempt to avoid multiple crashes in their lane of travel and then lost control due to ice on the roadway. The two trucks obstructed the roadway and caused a chain-reaction crash to occur. The accident occurred near milepost 71.4 in Cranbury Township (Middlesex County) on the New Jersey Turnpike. Twenty-one vehicles were also involved in multiple crashes in the inner southbound car lanes in the same area. The injured were taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick (Middlesex County), Robert Wood Johnson in Hamilton (Mercer County) and Capital Health Medical Center in Hopewell (Mercer County). All southbound lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike were closed for hours. Some motorists sought shelter at the Molly Pitcher rest stop. Traffic began to flow along the inner car lanes about 3 a.m. EST on the 10th. The outer roadway reopened at 830 a.m. EST on the 10th after repairs were completed on the guard rails. A separate accident on westbound Interstate 80 closed the left and center lanes in Hope Township (Warren County). Hundreds of schools were closed on the 9th throughout New Jersey; many schools also had delayed openings on the 10th.

Representative ice accumulations included 0.07 inches in Sussex (Sussex County), 0.06 inches in Trenton (Mercer County) and 0.03 inches in Burlington Township (Burlington County) and Merchantville (Camden County).

Representative snow and sleet accumulations included 1.8 inches in Highland Lakes (Sussex County),1.2 inches in Wantage (Sussex County), 1.1 inches in Sparta (Sussex County), 1.0 inch in Jefferson Township (Morris County) and Hackettstown (Warren County), 0.5 inches in Lebanon (Hunterdon County), 0.3 inches in Bernards Township (Somerset County), 0.2 inches in Florham Park (Morris County), and 0.1 inches in North Brunswick (Middlesex County).

The wintry mix of precipitation was caused by the combination of waves of low pressure on a frontal boundary that supplied the moisture and precipitation and an arctic high pressure system to the north of the boundary that supplied the low level cold air. As this boundary sagged southward, the precipitation sagged southward with it. At 7 a.m. EST on the 8th, the high pressure system was centered over James Bay and the frontal boundary across central New Jersey. At 7 p.m. EST on the 8th, the frontal boundary was along the Atlantic City Expressway with a wave of low pressure in northwest Pennsylvania. At 7 a.m. EST on the 9th, the frontal boundary was located over the Delmarva Peninsula with a wave of low pressure forming along it. At 7 p.m. EST on the 9th, the frontal boundary was approaching Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and at 7 a.m. EST on the 10th dropped into northern Florida. By then, waves of low pressure were too far offshore to affect New Jersey.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 558198. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.