Freezing Fog Leaves a Light Coating in parts of NJ

It was certainly a rare thing for parts of New Jersey. Fog dense enough combining with below freezing temperatures that it left a light coating of ice on many surfaces, including trees this morning. The three pictures below were taken at my South Jersey home just around sunrise. While the sun melted the ice quickly, it was a beautiful site to see for those who were up and about early in areas that got the fog. I cannot recall seeing freezing fog leaving this much ice on the trees in all the years following the weather.

Wrightstown reported 8 hours of freezing fog.

Mount Holly reported 2 hours of freezing fog.

Lakehurst reported 1 hour of freezing fog.

Millville reported 2 hours of freezing fog.

Many other sites, including these, reported fog and mist with below freezing temperatures, but "freezing fog" was not recorded.

More Freezing Fog

Freezing fog has been reported early this morning in Atlantic, Burlington, and Ocean Counties. As an actual observer of this fog while driving, visibility was down to zero in patches on some roadways I traveled on in this area. This fog was producing a light layer of moisture on road surfaces. With temperatures well below freezing, this fog is likely putting a thin coating of hazardous ice on roadways. Slow down and use extreme caution if you encounter this dense and freezing fog.
This fog could become more widespread overnight.

1/29/2011 Extended Forecast: Mid-Week Storm

The second clipper this afternoon is giving us some light snow, especially in Central New Jersey. The clipper will move offshore later tonight. The heavier bursts of snow may drop a coating of snow. Otherwise, the snow will dampen the ground and likely cause some black ice to form. Another round of some low clouds cannot be ruled out.

Morning clouds on Sunday will give way to mostly sunny skies. The mostly clear conditions will continue into Sunday Night. With light winds and relatively clear skies, Sunday Night could be a night where lows drop into the single digits. The snow-cover is fairly significant, so some of our coldest suburbs could try to drop down to zero degrees. An arctic reinforcement will be settling in for Monday, so upper twenties will likely be our maximum daytime high temperatures.

A warm front will begin to lift through our area on Tuesday, ahead of a very strong storm system that will cut up to our west. With the Arctic Air still in place, we should see snow develop. The snow may change to a wintry mix on Tuesday Night or on Wednesday Morning as warmer air erodes the colder air aloft. Then the low itself will give us very heavy precipitation on Wednesday. With high pressure to our north and snow on the ground, this may allow cold air damming to occur where basically cold air gets trapped at the surface. This will be especially true in Northwest and Central New Jersey. This means there is the possibility of freezing rain on Wednesday. With the heavy precipitation expected, we could see some significant ice accumulations. One must wonder if this will rival the ice storm of 1993. Obviously, this will be an evolving situation. Southeastern New Jersey would be mainly plain rain, should there be only a primary low sliding to our west. Atlantic City could flirt with 50 degrees while the inland is stuck in the thirties. There could be sleet in all areas at some point during the transitions. Keep in mind too if there is some heavy precipitation before temperatures rise above freezing, you could see some ice accretion gather quickly so you may get your ice storm technically before plain rain moves in.

Earlier model runs indicated the potential for a coastal storm to develop. This idea would mean the cold air would really get trapped and actually mean more snow than ice. The idea for now of a double-barrel low pressure system has been taken out of the equation, but not off the table. Every storm this season seems to have gone to the colder solution as the event draws near and then it actually does in fact play out that way. But maybe in this case, colder would be freezing rain instead of plain rain. After looking over the models today, I would be inclined to think rain for everyone except the high terrains once the heavier precipitation arrives. However, there are two good reasons, as mentioned above, to think ice may be an issue. If this storm produces a coastal low, it would likely be another double-digit snowfall.

If the area of plain rain makes good progress into the interior, the next concern would be flooding. I easily see a very significant rain event here for the areas that see all rain. With the significant snow just about everywhere and the snowfall since December, we do not have a dry ground. The ground is frozen as well and that will also add to the flooding potential. In this case, I would much rather want to have snow or ice if I lived along the major waterways, such as the Raritan and Delaware.

For all areas: colder air will move in as the system wraps up and it could change everything back to some sleet or wet snow before ending. This does not look anywhere near the event of this past week where we had strong energy behind the system.

The forecast for this storm has a great amount of uncertainty and any change could make a huge difference. Stay tuned!

Clipper #2 About to Arrive

Another round of snow showers with a burst of snow is anticipated this afternoon across Central and Southern New Jersey. Some areas will likely pick up an additional coating to an inch of snow. The models still indicate this system weakening as it enters New Jersey. This system does look a bit stronger than the clipper yesterday.

Hazardous Dense and Freezing Fog

Ideal conditions are in existence tonight across the Raritan and Delaware Valleys for fog formation. Temperatures are also below freezing in many areas. Some of the fog is dense in nature and as a result, we are getting some areas of freezing fog. Actual observation sites in Trenton and in Millville are reporting freezing fog. This kind of fog is very hazardous as it leaves a thin coating of ice on untreated surfaces. In Millville, the temperature dropped to 27 degrees. Elsewhere, temperatures are around the range of 30 to 32 degrees.

The coating of snow that also fell this afternoon and this evening has left roadways very moist. Use caution if traveling across the Garden State overnight into Saturday Morning. This is the type of situation which can lead to multiple-vehicle accidents.

1/28/2011 Extended Forecast: Another Clipper, Another Winter Storm

Snow showers will end across Central and Southern New Jersey as the evening rush is ending. Clouds will be hanging tight this evening, but they could break up overnight. Temperatures are around freezing and will drop below freezing as we lose daylight. This means black ice will form tonight as the snow has moistened the ground. Untreated surfaces will turn icy and hazardous. Be very careful.

Saturday Morning, we will have more clouds and black ice. Temperatures will once again rise into the middle thirties. Snow will arrive later in the day. The latest model guidance suggests an evening arrival from northwest to southeast. I think some of this will be arriving in the afternoon. The snow will move offshore early Sunday Morning. This is another coating to an inch of snow, with the possibility of over an inch in Sussex County if you heading to the mountains. Even if the snow does not produce a visible coating, it will moisten the roadways creating some black ice again Saturday Night. I will have more on this system in a late night update, so stay tuned.

A few clouds will linger on Sunday Morning, but expect the sun to break through the clouds by daylight across the area. Unlike last January 30, where my birthday was spent shoveling at night, this one looks to feature mostly clear skies at night. Monday looks to be mostly sunny.

Tuesday and Wednesday there will be several systems and factors leading to periods of accumulating snow. There will be more on this in the coming days on our site. There is the threat for a significant ice storm as well for portions of the region which see snow changing over to freezing rain. If some of the models are correct, we would be looking at power-outage producing ice in portions of the area or a heavy, wet snow. This time frame looks like there will plenty of moisture sources to work with as there is a strong gulf connection. At some point, there could be a double-barrel low situation which can make for a difficult forecast.

Clipper Entering New Jersey

The clipper I have been following all morning is about to enter New Jersey on schedule. In fact, some flurries and snow showers are already in New Jersey. This will begin what will be about a five hour period of occasional snow showers or periods of snow. The heaviest bursts of snow could drop the visibility to about one-mile. Temperatures are around or slightly above freezing. I suspect that in the heavier bursts, we could see temperatures drop back a degree or two as evaporative cooling takes place. The only place the radar is indicating some rain mixing in is in Cape May County.

We will see a dusting to an inch from this storm system. Again, an isolated spot could see more than one inch of snow. This snowfall is not much, but the previous events this year with this nuisance snowfall have caused major headaches. One inch or less of snow will not keep people off the roadways and that is how we get more accidents and jams during these types of events.