Winter Storm — Hunterdon, New Jersey

2007-12-15 to 2007-12-16 · Hunterdon, New Jersey

Wider weather episode

A strong area of high pressure was anchored over southeastern Canada on December 15th. This high gradually moved eastward during the day, however it wedged itself down into the Mid Atlantic region, which is known as cold air damming. Meanwhile, a storm system became more organized across the Gulf Coast states. This storm tracked northeastward from the 15th to the 16th. As the main storm tracked into Ohio on the 16th, a secondary area of low pressure developed near southern Delaware during that morning. As a result, moisture was lifted up and over colder air trapped at the surface. This produced about 1 to 3 inches of snow and sleet across northern New Jersey, with up to a quarter of an inch of ice (from freezing rain). The storm system moved away from the area during the overnight hours of the 16th.

The combination of snow and mostly sleet made roadways rather slippery. In Union Township (Hunterdon County), 12 people were injured when a chartered bus carrying 31 passengers to New York City crashed, early in the morning on the 16th, into a jack-knifed tractor-trailer in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 78 near exit 15. The bus struck the truck, then crashed through the right guardrail and slid about 50 feet down a ravine. In Morris County, an icy ramp in Parsippany from eastbound Interstate 80 to eastbound Interstate 280, caused a series of vehicle accidents that closed the ramp at about 1 PM EST on the 16th. Numerous spin-outs and several accidents were reported across northern New Jersey. The ice build-up on trees and power lines resulted in power outages, which were reported in Phillipsburg (Warren County) and in 7 municipalities in Hunterdon County. Because of the ice, trees and wires were downed across parts of Hunterdon and Somerset Counties. There was an incident of a vehicle windshield being smashed out on Interstate 80 from ice flying off an SUV.

While there was some snow, sleet was the dominate precipitation type. Some total accumulations included 3.0 inches in Tewksbury (Hunterdon County); 2.5 inches in Hackettstown (Warren County); 2.1 inches in Wantage (Sussex County); 1.8 inches in Whitehouse (Hunterdon County), Blairstown (Warren County) and Sussex (Sussex County); 1.6 inches in Lake Parsippany (Morris County), Marcella (Morris County) and Bridgewater (Somerset County); 1.4 inches in Riegelsville (Warren County); 1.2 inches in Stewartsville (Warren County); and 1.0 inch in Flemington (Hunterdon County) and Whippany (Morris County). Ice accumulations from freezing rain included 0.25 of an inch in Tewksbury (Hunterdon County); 0.20 of an inch in Whitehouse (Hunterdon County) and Wantage (Sussex County); and 0.10 of an inch in Edison (Middlesex County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 69224. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.