Mother Nature needs a new calendar — doesn’t she know it’s May?
Apparently not, since snowflakes were flying around parts of northern New Jersey early Saturday morning. Almost 1 inch of snow was measured on the ground in parts of Sussex County, along with a light dusting of snow in other areas of the state.
Not to mention, a freeze warning is in place in Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Warren until 9 a.m. Saturday, with morning temperatures stuck in the 30s and gusty winds making it feel like it’s in the 20s.
Add the coronavirus pandemic to the mix, and you really feel like the world has turned upside down.
Frigid air dropping down from Canada — part of the polar vortex breaking loose from the Arctic Circle — combined with moisture from a rain storm, turning the rain to snow showers in parts of northern New Jersey a few minutes before midnight.
More snow showers and light flurries were reported between midnight and 1 a.m. Saturday in several counties in North Jersey, and even as far south as Monmouth County at about 3:20 a.m., the National Weather Service said.
The snow that fell Saturday morning is tied for the second latest May snowfall on record in New Jersey.
PRELIMINARY SNOWFALL REPORTS
Here are some early snow observations reported to the weather service overnight:
- 0.9 inches in Highland Lakes, Sussex County at 12:27 a.m. Saturday
- 0.3 inches in Succasunna, Morris County at 12:47 a.m. Saturday
- 0.2 inches in Schooleys Mountain, Morris County at 12:13a.m. Saturday
- 0.2 inches near Wantage, Sussex County at 11:56 p.m. Friday.
- 0.1 inches near Allamuchy-Panther Valley, Warren County at 11:45 p.m. Friday
- Trace of snow in Freehold, Monmouth County at 3:19 a.m. Saturday
- Trace of snow at Newark Liberty Airport, Essex County at 1 a.m. Saturday
A trace of snow was also reported in Central Park in New York City early Saturday.
Latest May snow?
The snow reported in Newark this morning was actually a mix of rain and snow, so the snow did not accumulate on the ground.
In the record books, it gets classified as a trace of snow for May 9 — making it tied for the latest snow ever recorded during the month of May in Newark, said Matt Wunsch, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s regional office in New York, which oversees northeastern New Jersey.
Any snow that measures 0.1 inches or more on the ground is considered “measurable snow” or accumulating snow — something that is rare in New Jersey in May. But it happened this morning in northwestern counties.
Records show two other notable May storms that brought accumulating snow to the Garden State during the past 66 years.
May 9, 1977
A storm that swept across our region on May 9, 1977 coated the grass with snow in some towns and dropped more than a half-foot of snow in high-elevation areas.
New Jersey State Climatologist David Robinson, whose office is based at Rutgers University, said exactly 1 inch of snow was measured that day at the Canistear Reservoir in Sussex County and a half-inch of snow was measured at the Oak Ridge Reservoir in Morris County.
Although there were no official weather monitoring stations operating in High Point in Sussex County that year, there were reports of as much as 10 inches of snow falling in that area during that May 9 storm.
According to a front-page article in The Star-Ledger on May 10, 1977, the “bizarre” May 9 storm dropped a light coating of snow across most of New Jersey, and enough snow fell in Vernon Township for kids to build a snowman.
May 10, 1954
This storm was one for the record books, not because it was a big snow maker (it wasn’t), but because of its unusually late arrival — on May 10.
The 1954 storm is believed to be the latest spring date that fresh accumulating snow was documented in any New Jersey town, according to Robinson and his assistant state climatologist, Mathieu Gerbush.
Gerbush said old weather observation records show 0.5 inches of snow fell on May 10, 1954 at the Oak Ridge Reservoir in Morris County, close to the border of Passaic County. Based on observations later that day, it appears the snow had completely melted by the late afternoon. But it still counts as accumulating snow.
An article in The Newark Star-Ledger had this headline the day after the storm: “Snow and rain fill N.J. weather bag.” The article noted: “Dame Nature yesterday emptied her entire sack of weather on North Jersey — most of it bad. It ranged from driving rain to hail in some areas, and even snow in the state’s northwest.”
The article said “hail as large as moth balls” fell in western Essex County, hail also fell in Hudson and Passaic counties, snow turned to slush in the Green Pond area of Sussex and Passaic, and two bolts of lightning struck a beer can manufacturing plant in Hillside in Union County.
According to the article, 1 inch of snow accumulated in Caldwell in Essex County.
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Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com.
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