Winter Weather — Western Passaic, New Jersey

2018-01-04 · Western Passaic, New Jersey

Event narrative

A cooperative observer reported 1.5 inches of snowfall in Wanaque. Snowfall amounts increased to around 4 inches towards the southeastern portion of Western Passaic County.

Wider weather episode

The development of the blizzard/winter storm began along the southeast coast on Wednesday January 3, 2018. An amplifying upper level trough spawned the development of low pressure off the coast of Florida. The low pressure rapidly intensified on Wednesday night through Thursday January 4, 2018 as it moved north-northeast along the coast. The low passed just east of the 40N 70W benchmark Thursday afternoon. The central pressure when the storm developed was around 1004 millibars at 1 pm Wednesday. 24 hours later, the central pressure fell to around 950 mb, approximately a 54 millibar drop. The rapid intensification of the storm led to heavy snow, strong winds, and near-blizzard conditions across portions of Northeast New Jersey.

Thousands of flights were cancelled at Newark Airport on January 4, 2018. Homes and businesses lost power and there were numerous accidents on area roadways.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 736898. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.